Malice
by hardrocker21
Summary: Robotnik's latest failed experiment has had an unseen side effect. Several creatures get loose on the planet Mobius and begin stalk around Knothole village and the freedom fighters. Now they must survive each one as they try to find the source of these creatures. Only time will tell what happens. Rated for mild language and some scary moments. Author's Note inside.
1. Rude Awakening

**My first Sonic fic. I will do my best to make it a good one. So let's get into it. Oh and it takes place in the SatAm universe so it'll be following the SatAm characters. Mainly because it's my favorite setting in the Sonic franchise.**

**This story is rated T for scary moments and language.**

**Disclaimer: I do not Sonic or other characters from the franchise**

"Snively! Is it ready yet? We've delayed this for far too long," came the voice that Snively dreaded the most.

It was the voice of his hated Uncle Julien or, as Julien himself preferred to be called, Dr. Robotnik. Snively was a rather small man that lived in the remains of the city of Mobotropolis and worked as Robotnik's assistant in the now renamed, Robotropolis. Assistant? Ha! More like his lackey. A slave that was nothing more than a punching bag to this dictator. Oh how Snively wanted to be the one in charge. The one to take power and then make his horrible uncle pay for all the misery he'd had to endure all these years. But all of that would come in time. For now he'd just bide his time and do exactly as the doctor ordered.

He was currently down in the testing chamber of what was once the palace of the royal Acorn family. Now it was nothing more then Robotnik's headquarters. A palace in his own eyes. It was home and it was where he worked.

Looking up from the clipboard and his notes and looking back at the portal device that the roboticized work bots were building, he turned back to the monitor that contained the good doctor's face and said, "Almost sir. We've still got a few more touches to put on then we're ready."

Snively was hoping that the doctor would accept this answer and allow them to continue without interruption. Instead the doctor just seethed some more and said, "I already told you Snively that we are already behind schedule as it is. QUIT STALLING AND HURRY UP AND FINISH THE DAMN THING!"

With that the screen went blank and Snively was granted a few minutes of peace. But not wanting to feel his uncle's wrath again, he ordered the bots to work faster. This did, however bother him a bit because if they were to accelerate the work, it could make the device unstable. If that were to happen, who knows what the end result could be? It could destroy everything around them or it could be worse. But knowing how evil Doctor Robotnik was, he knew the risks as well and was willing to take the chance. Snively shuddered at the possibilities.

It took another half an hour, but eventually the device was ready for testing. The device itself was similar in design to the original portal device that Robotnik had used to open up the Void in the past. The very location where the good King Acorn himself was currently occupying after Robotnik's coup. The difference though? The prototype that they had created was meant to be mobile. It's intention? To use on any freedom fighters that they encountered in Robotropolis or outside of it. Robotnik's frustrations with the freedom fighters was running so strong that he had decided that if he couldn't catch them for robotization, he'd banish them to the Void instead. An endless dimension where time is practically non-existent. The problem however is that the Void could only be opened in a few locations. And thus, the mobile portal was designed and built. It looked like the regular device they used to open the Void, except that this one had mechanical legs and claws attached so that it could walk anywhere. Along the ground or up walls, making access to buildings easier. All that was left was to test it.

Snively went over to a nearby monitor and rang for Doctor Robotnik.

Robotnik's face appeared on screen and with a scowl he said, "What is it Snively? And this had better be good news about the contraption."

Snively stammered for a moment and said, "S-sir the mobile Void device is finished and ready for testing."

Robotnik's scowl turned to an evil smile and he wrung his hands together in sinister delight.

"Excellent Snively. I'll be down in a moment. Power it up and have it ready for me by the time I arrive," Robotnik said with an evil cackle.

Snively sighed in exasperation and did exactly as he had been instructed. Pressing the buttons and dials and allowed the device to charge. The minutes ticked by and Snively waited and waited. When Robotnik finally did arrive, Snively tensed himself and was eagerly begging the machine to hurry up it's charge so that it could be used. If it wasn't ready, the doctor would not be happy. He always expected everything to be ready when he says. Even something as small as this could irritate him. And that meant more misery for Snively.

"Well Snively? Is it ready?" Robotnik said to the little man.

Snively gulped as the device was currently at a ninety percent charge and still increasing. Fast enough that it'll be there in just a couple of minutes, but not nearly soon enough for Robotnik. When he wanted something, he wanted it now.

"Well Snively?" Robotnik asked again.

Snively gulped and said, "A-almost there s-sir. We're at about n-ninety-two percent p-po-power now."

Whenever his nerves ran high, Snively would stutter and this event was no different.

Robotnik breathed a little bit and said, "I see. Snively I have a question for you. What did I ask of you over the monitor?"

Snively stammered some more and said, "T-t-to have the ma-machine ready before y-you arrived sir."

Robotnik chuckled a little bit and said, "Exactly. And when I say ready I mean one hundred percent ready. Not ninety-two percent ready."

Snively gulped as his uncle loomed over him. And grabbed him back the back of the shirt collar and lifted him to his eye level.

"Understood?" Robotnik asked with malice evident in his voice.

Snively nodded quickly and said, "Understood sir."

With an evil grin, Robotnik snickered before tossing Snively aside and approached his brand new machine. The device that he could use to finally put an end to the freedom fighters and their pesky little resistance. It was at the point where robotization was way too good for them. A more everlasting punishment was in order for them. Especially for the pesky hedgehog. Oh how he hated that hedgehog. The one that has always managed to get away, even when he had him in his grasp. And the princess was no better. He was a genius and the princess always seemed to have a plan ready to outsmart him. Every plan he concocted was always doomed to fail because of her brains and the hedgehog's speed. But that was all about to end with his newest creation. All it needed was a proper test run and they could begin the process.

He looked at the power gauge as it read ninety-eight percent. Excellent, all he had to was wait a few more moments and they would be ready. Snively was already back on his feet and standing near yet away from Robotnik. It took only a few more seconds for the gauge to read full.

"Excellent. First let's see how it moves," Robotnick said used a dial on the side of the machine to allow it to walk freely around the testing chamber.

It stood up on it's mechanical legs and began walking in a straight line towards the edge of the room. Robotnik laughed and brought it back towards him with a remote connection that Snively had created. He then allowed it to walk around in circles and then up the walls a little bit. Just a bit more practice and it'd be ready to use out in the field.

"Well that's the first test done. Now we just need to see how well it is at creating an opening. I just need a subject," Robotnik said and looked down at Snively.

Snively knew what that meant and tried to back away but was grabbed and tossed in front of the portal device.

Snively scrapped against the ground and turned around as he sat up and faced the machine again. A look of horror spread across his face.

"Just relax Snively. It'll be over in a second and then I'll bring you back," Robotnik said and prepared to start up the device.

"As best I can," Robotnik added under his breath not really giving a care.

Snively began to panic as his uncle pushed the main button on the system and then... nothing happened. Snively looked back up with a look of confusion. Robotnik looked confused as well and continued to push the button again as his confused look turned into a look of irritation. He pushed it again and again but nothing would happen.

"What is wrong with this thing? Snively what did you do? The portal is not opening," Robotnik sneered and threw the controller to the ground.

Snively tried to back away from the mad doctor as far as he could and away from the device which then began to spark and crackle as if it was coming to life. Robotnik was just about to grab Snively when he could hear popping from the machine as it practically glowed when turned back to it. If it wasn't shut down, it could destroy the entire lab complex or worse.

All of the planet.

He rushed over to the machine and as he grabbed at it, a surge of electricity rushed through his body and back into the device. A searing pain surged through his body as the power around him crackled. Eventually the energy sent him backwards and as he let go and collapsed to the ground, a beam shot out of the machine and created a small fissure in midair. Almost like a pulsating tear had formed. Both he and Snively watched as the tear glowed and seem to pulsate. After a moment, surges of energy popped out of the fissure and vanished almost instantly. A dozen times this happened and each surge sent out an orb of some unknown origin. Each orb that was ejected from the surges was brighter than the last and each glowed an ominous red color. Almost as if hellfire were being released.

After a couple of moments the tear fizzled and finally disappeared in one last surge of energy that eminated and rushed through them. Both Robotnik and Snively stood where they were in stunned silence at what they had just witnessed. Neither of them could explain what had just happened and had no idea what had come forth.

"Umm... was it supposed to do that?" Snively asked out loud.

Robotnik pulled himself back to his feet and said, "I don't even know what that was. Could have been a weak beam for the void or it could have been a dimensional rupture. Either way we don't have time to worry about this. We need to start our work again."

Robotnik walked back over to the elevator and looked back to his nephew.

"Get back to work and build it again. A set back is not a reason to get lazy," said and then the elevator doors closed.

Snively grumbled angrily to himself and grabbed his clipboard with the notes on them.

"Just you wait fatman. One way or another, I'll eventually be in charge and you'll be kissing my feet," he said as he reexamined his notes.

While Snively started work on the new machine again, the energy surge moved quickly over the planet's surface. It rushed across lakes, the badlands, and even forests and mountains. And before long it passed over a tiny village hidden away from the rest of the world. Huts dotted all over the ground and up in the trees as well. The residents were all sound asleep in their beds with the exception of one French coyote who was on lookout for that night. He had been nodding off when the energy wave passed over and could he could feel as it passed by.

**(AN: I'm not good at writing accents so I'm sure you can imagine what it sounds like when he says it)**

He was startled awake by a tingling sensation that ran over his entire body and yelled out, "What the? What was that?"

In another area of the village, stood a larger hut. Inside was a four post bed and lying in the bed, asleep, was a female chipmunk with auburn hair. Her breathing soft as she tried to get some much needed sleep. It had been a long day for her and several others as they had gotten a message earlier that day telling them that their nemesis, Doctor Robotnik, had been scheming and was possibly building something that could easily take them out if he was given the chance. Well she wasn't about to give him that chance. They had spied, but couldn't see anything. They'd have to plan things for another day.

Her name was Sally and she was once the princess of the planet Mobius and she lived in the city of Mobotropolis. Her father had been the king until the day that one Julien Kintobor took over and stripped the king of his crowning and then banishing him to another dimension while Sally and her friends escaped. Sally had found this out only weeks earlier when she and one of her friends, a hedgehog named Sonic, had gone inside and found him there. They managed to escape, but couldn't leave with him. No matter though. She knew he was alive and where to find him. She swore that no matter how long it took, she'd get him out.

She was snoring softly as she felt something tingle all over her. She shot up in bed and let out a gasp. She felt her heart racing at the sudden panic but looked herself over. She felt no pain and it didn't look like she was harmed in any way. So what did she feel?

She was about to lie back down and go back to sleep when she heard a startled shout come from the adjoining room.

"Tails?" Sally called out.

Hearing no answer, she called out again. Just like the first time there was no answer. Wanting to make sure he was okay, Sally pulled herself out of bed and pulled on a robe. She walked to his door and lightly tapped on it, calling out to him again. After no answer, she opened the door and walked inside.

Tails was a young brown fox with two tails, hence his name. No one in Knothole knew where he came from. Only that he was found abandoned in the woods eight years earlier and that since then, Sally had been his main caretaker. But all of her friends had played a role in taking care of him.

Tails right now however was sitting up in bed and feeling his face. His breathing was hard. Almost as if he had been awoken with a sudden jolt. Sally walked over to him and took a seat next to his bed. She placed a hand on his shoulder and shook him lightly.

"Tails? Are you okay?" she asked.

As soon as she uttered those words, Tails flinched and turned his attention to her.

"Aunt Sally? Did you feel that?" Tails asked innocently.

Sally shrugged and asked, "I don't know. What did it feel like?"

"It felt like I was suddenly hit with a small lightning bolt. Almost like when I get too close to one of Rotor's little projects," he answered her.

Sally laughed lightly, but it was a bittersweet laugh. She laughed at Tails innocent demeanor like always, but at the same time she was a little bothered. He had felt the same thing she felt and she wondered if anyone else did. It wasn't long before she got her answer.

Outside she could hear the other village residents stirring from sleep and actually wandering out into the night. Some voices questioning others about what they had just felt. Sally got up from her seat and moved over to the window. She looked outside and could see the other residents were up and about. Some looked frightened while others looked confused. So it hadn't just been her and Tails. Everyone in Knothole must have felt something.

"What's going on outside Aunt Sally?" Tails asked from behind her as he tried to look out the window as well.

Sally turned back towards him and met him at eye level.

"Nothing honey. It's late and you should get back to bed. We'll worry about this in the morning. Okay?" she said to him.

He was about to argue but then he saw the stern look in her eyes that she gave when she really meant something. He nodded and climbed back into bed. Sally tucked him back in and gave him a kiss on the cheek before she left. She dashed through her room and rushed outside to see that the crowd of residents had grown. When she had looked outside, only a few residents had been out. Now it seemed as if half of Knothole had poured outside. Each saying they had felt the same thing. A tingling sensation that had roused each of them from sleep.

"Yo Sal," said one voice as Sally wandered amongst the crowd.

She turned in the direction that the voice had come from and saw who she expected. If his blue quills weren't enough to give him away, his attitude certainly was. He dashed over to her and was by her side in a split second or as he liked to call it, a sonic second.

"Sonic? I take it you felt it too?" she asked already knowing what the answer was going to be.

Sonic nodded and said, "Yeah. Everyone in Knothole did. It was just so weird. One minute I'm asleep and the next it just feels like... like... I don't really know how to explain it."

Sally let out a sly smile and said, "Like a small lightning bolt?"

Sonic nodded and said, "Yeah. Thought it was just me until all the lights came on all over town. Any idea what that was about?"

Sally shrugged and said, "Your guess is as good as mine. I should get Nicole. See if she has picked anything up."

Sonic nodded and said, "Might be a good idea."

Sally nodded and rushed back to her hut, bobbing in and out of the crowd to get back. She dashed inside and went over to her desk. This where she normally kept her handheld computer that was known as Nicole. She had been given to Sally within a few months of their arrival in Knothole by her childhood nanny, an elderly woodchuck named Rosie. She was told that it was a gift from her father and that's all the both Rosie and Sally knew.

Sally had fond memories of her. She was still around in Knothole, or rather she was around once again. But she didn't have time to dwell on that right now. She walked back out and found Sonic waiting right outside for her.

"Took you long enough Sal. What does Nicole say?" Sonic asked eagerly.

Sally ignored the question and turned her attention directly to Nicole.

"Nicole did you sense anything a few minutes ago? Anything out of the ordinary?" she asked her computer as she typed on a few buttons.

Nicole buzzed to life and answered, "Hello Sally. I did detect an energy spike just a few minutes ago. It came and went at an accelerated pace that I unfortunatly could not pinpoint a location or a source."

Sally groaned in frustration and said, "At least that explains the tingling sensation. Is there anything you can do to help figure out what caused it?"

Nicole remained silent for a moment as she scanned.

"Negative Sally. It appears that all traces of the energy wave that passed by have diminished enough and cannot make a proper scan. A few smaller traces remain and but are harder to track. I'm sorry Sally," Nicole answered.

Sally sighed and said, "It's okay. Thanks anyway Nicole."

Sonic let out a sigh himself and said, "Great. So not even Nicole can figure out what's up. What do we do about this?"

"Well it doesn't look like we can do anything for now. We'll keep an eye on this and see if anything comes up. I hate when things like this happen and we can't do anything about it," Sally answered him.

As they spoke the crowd around them began to diminish and everyone started going back home and some managed to get back to bed. Others stayed up out of wonder and fear. Sally was a little relieved to see everyone returning to their homes. From the looks of things, no damage was done and everyone seemed to be in good health. There was no use dwelling on this tonight. Sally and Sonic bid each other a good night and then returned to their huts.

But as Sally walked into her hut, a bush nearby shook with a peculiar snarl and growl. Unlike a lot of the creatures they normally get in the village, this one did not sound friendly or benign. No, this was something different.

Not hearing the sounds, Sally closed the door and walked over to Tails' room. She gently opened the door and looked to see him asleep in bed. After confirming to herself that he was asleep, she closed the door and returned to her own bed. Slipping her robe back off, she climbed into bed and fell asleep once more. She didn't even hear the scratching and growling at the door. Almost as if something was trying to claw it's way in.

**And that'll do for this chapter. Not much to say here other than Robotnik's actions have had unforseen and unintentional side effects. There's no telling what he did and what this all means. Keep tuned in if you want find out.**

**If you enjoyed please be sure to leave a fave and a review.**


	2. Scratches

**First off I'd like to thank Ghostkid33 and Sonicshadowandtailsfanforever for their reviews. It means a lot guys and thank you very much.**

**This chapter may or may not be as long as the previous one but we'll see how it turns out.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic or his friends. If I did SatAm would have gotten it's 3rd season.**

The rest of the night passed without incident for Sally and the rest of Knothole as most were able to get back to sleep. As dawn approached, life returned to Knothole as it's residents awoke more peacefully than they had during the night. Especially one rabbit and robot hybrid. Her name was Bunnie, but she liked calling herself Bunnie Rabot because of the incident that changed her.

What had happened to her is that a couple of years earlier she had been foraging in the forest, looking for herbs with Sally when they had been ambushed and grabbed by Robotnik's swatbots. At the time, Robotnik had created a mobile robotization machine and Bunnie had been placed inside. Luckily Sonic had been nearby at the time and had heard their screams when they were grabbed. He managed to reach them and rescue them after destroying the it was not before Bunnie had been partially roboticized. Her legs and one arm had turned and they had yet been able to fix her. However this had not handicapped her. Thanks to their mechanic, Rotor, she had turned her new limbs into her greatest strength. A metal fist allowed her to hit harder and her legs could extend too making reaching higher things much easier. Especially when harvesting fruit. There were even plans to make Bunnie's arm into a cannon and make a battle much easier to handle.

She was one of the first residents awake this morning and climbed out of bed. It was her turn to assist with breakfast for the residents today and she rubbed her eyes trying to wake up some more. Walking out of her hut, she turned towards the mess hall and started making her way there. Along the way she would pass by Sally's hut. The two were as close as sisters and had been practically inseparable as kids. If it weren't for them always planning raids into Robotropolis be it to attack Robotnick or get some extra supplies they'd be spending more time together seeing as they were attack plans and not for socializing. But it was what it was and they all had important work to do.

As she passed by Sally's hut, she turned her head towards it and as soon as she saw the door, any trace of sleepiness that was still in her, had vanished in an instant. She rushed to the door and started banging on it with her fist.

Sally was still asleep in bed when she heard the banging and awoke with a start.

"Sally? Are you in there? Please sug, tell me you're okay," Bunnie said on the other side of the door.

Hearing the urgency in Bunnie's voice, Sally jumped out of bed and rushed to the door. She threw it open, only to see a relieved Bunnie standing there.

"Bunnie? Is everything okay? What happened?" Sally asked.

Before Bunnie could answer, a half asleep Tails, also awoken by the banging, walked out of his room and saw the two of them in the doorway, but just like Bunnie, he too was completely awakened when he saw the door.

"Hey? What happened?" Tails asked.

Sally was wondering what was going on, but then she took a quick glance at the door. Now she could see why Bunnie had been concerned. The door was covered in scratches and cuts many of which had dug deep into the wood. In few areas, small chunks had broken off, leaving some jagged pieces jutting out. Almost as if something had been trying to get in. Sally shuddered to consider what could do that. Or what would have happened if it had gotten inside.

Tails walked over to the ladies and said, "What happened to the door?"

As he placed his hand on it, Sally pulled his hand back. She didn't want to risk him getting a splinter or actually cutting himself of the broken wood.

"Don't touch it Tails. Some of that wood is jagged and can cut," she said.

Tails did as he said. Now that he was awake, there'd be no use getting him back to bed. Especially this early. Thinking he could use some distraction from this she figured he could help Bunnie knowing that Bunnie was supposed to help cook this morning.

"Hey Tails. Why don't you go help Bunnie with breakfast? I'm sure she could some help," Sally said to him.

This actually excited Tails seeing as he liked it whenever someone asked him to help them. Especially when it came to helping Bunnie, Sally, or Sonic. Seeing as he rarely got to help them outside of Knothole he felt glad knowing that they needed him for something.

Bunnie laughed as she saw the excitement in his eyes and said, "Now that I think about it, I could use some help today. What do you say suga fox?"

Tails eagerly accepted and then he left with Bunnie towards the mess hall. Relieved that Tails had been distracted for now, she changed out of her nightgown and into her favorite blue vest and pulled on her boots. She grabbed Nicole and opened up her door again. She had Nicole run a scan on it and waited for a result.

"Well Nicole? What did this?" she asked the computer.

"Sorry Sally. No known source. The only thing they could do this damage is a knife. No known lifeforms with claws this sharp," Nicole said.

Sally looked confused and looked at the height of the markings on the door. They only reached to just under the doorknob. Whatever had been attacking the door hadn't been tall enough to open it. But who would do that. She knew for herself that all the kids in Knothole were tall enough to open the doors and she doubted any infant could wield anything that could cut up the door. No it had to be an animal of some sort.

**(AN: Kind of ironic seeing as they are animals themselves)**

As she continued looking at the door, she heard a low whistle come from behind her.

"Dang Sal what happened to your door? Looks like a mad cat got at it," came the voice of Sonic.

Sally turned to him and said, "Hey Sonic. I don't know what happened."

Sonic walked up to the door and took a closer look with her.

"Looks like something wanted in really bad. Did you hear anything trying to get in?" he asked.

Sally shook her head and said, "I must have been asleep. The real mystery is what could do this? No animals on Mobius have claws this sharp and if it was a person, they weren't tall enough to get the door open."

Sonic gave a shocked look and said, "So we may have an intruder in the village?"

Sally nodded and said, "And they may still be here. Look for anyone who's on patrol and fill them in on the situation. We'll meet with the others after breakfast. I'm making this our primary focus for the time being."

Sonic nodded and said, "Already on it."

He dashed off with his speed and Sally had to hang onto the doorknob to keep herself from being blown away. She hated it when that happened. But that was how Sonic rolled and it had always helped them in the past so she couldn't complain.

After smoothing out her hair from the strong gust, she made her way to the mess hall. She figured that breakfast would be done by now and she needed something to eat. As she arrived, several villagers were already eating with several more waiting in line for food. Sally sniffed the air and could smell what was prepared. It smelled like hash browns and eggs, one of Bunnie's specialties. She got in line and waited her turn. She may have been royalty but she hated asserting her royal authority to the rest of the villagers. As far as she was concerned, she and the rest of the villagers were all equals.

Before too long, her turn came up and could see that Bunnie was keeping Tails busy with bringing extra portions to the waiting residents. There was even oatmeal for those who wanted it. Bunnie was about to load up Sally's plate when someone came dashing into the mess hall. His name was Scroggins, however most residents referred to him as Old Man Scroggins seeing as he the oldest resident of Knothole. He was a goat with a long white beard and he had two large horns on the top of his head. He was the main farmer of the village and the majority of their food stocks came from his crops and Bunnie's carrot patch. He was usually in good spirits but today he seemed to be in a state of complete panic as he went about the mess hall.

"Has anyone seen the Princess? I need Sally now," he said as he went about.

Sally heard him and now felt a little disheartened. Guess breakfast would have to wait.

As she walked away she heard Bunnie call after her, "I'll keep a plate warm for ya Sally girl."

Sally appreciated the offer and went to Mr. Scroggins who was still in a state of disarray. It took sitting him down and giving him a drink of water to calm him down. Once he was in a better state, he turned his attention to Sally.

"Okay Mr. Scroggins, what's wrong?" she asked him calmly.

He took a few breaths and said, "Something is wrong with my wife.

"What happened," Sally asked urgently.

"Me and her were getting back into bed last night after that thing woke us up. She was able to get back to sleeping but I couldn't and just laid there awake. After a while I could hear a scratching sound come from the door. Like some wild critter was trying to get in," he stated.

When he said this, a look of astonishment came to Sally's face. She thought back to the state of her door and felt a chill run down her spine. After taking a moment to process this in her mind, she urged the older man to continue.

"So I got up and went to check on it thinking that maybe it was something that got hurt or worse. So I open the door and this thing just shot into the house and climbed onto the wall. This thing... I don't even know how to describe it. It rushed up the wall and jumped from the furniture to everything else we had there. Woke up my wife and she tried to confront the thing herself. Then it jumped on her and sank it's nasty little teeth into her hand and tore a chunk right out of her. Now she's got this really bad infection where this thing bit her, like nothing I ever seen before. Swollen but with a blue tint instead of red. Darndest thing I ever did see," he continued.

Sally could feel bile starting to rise in her throat. If she was right and this was the same thing that had been scratching at her door last night, it could have very well been her that got bit or worse. It could have gotten Tails.

"I chased the thing into the oven and sealed it in. I set that thing to high and cooked that monster right up. You shoulda heard it scream while it burned in my oven. Once the screams stopped, I took it out. The damn thing was still breathing after a few minutes in the fire. I threw it back in and locked the oven up tight. When I checked it this morning it wasn't moving, but I didn't dare touch it. I cleaned my wife's wound and patched her up before she went back to bed. I couldn't sleep after what had happened," Scroggins said and finished his story.

No one could see it, but Sally was shivering a little. If something that dangerous had gotten loose, who knew if there were more like it. What concerned her most was the infection that Scroggins had mentioned. If there were more like it, then they had a new threat to contend with.

"Do you still have the creature's body?" she asked him.

He nodded and said, "I will warn that if you want to see it, I hope you haven't eaten yet. It is the nastiest thing I've ever seen."

She nodded and the two of them walked across the way and to Scroggins hut. Looking at the door, she could see similar scratches like her door. The first thing she wanted to look at was Mrs. Scroggins hand and see how bad the infection on her hand was. Mrs Scroggins was a goat just like her husband and was almost as old as him. She was still lying in bed and groaning from the pain in her hand. Sally walked over to her and sat in the chair that had been placed next to the bed.

"Mrs. Scroggins? May I see your hand please?" Sally asked her.

Mrs. Scroggins reluctantly did so and Sally carefully grabbed her wrist and peeled back the bandages on the older woman's hand. There was fresh blood on the bandages and when she finally reached flesh, she nearly recoiled from the sight of it. A small chunk of flesh was missing and the area around the bite had turned dark purple. She felt like throwing up, but tapped it back down and quickly rebandaged the woman's hand.

"I'm having her moved to the medical hut. This wound has gotten worse and she needs a doctor," she said to Mr Scroggins.

He nodded and told her that he'd take her over. He helped his wife out of bed and he took her arm and draped it over his shoulders. He began walking her out the door but turned his attention back to Sally for a moment.

"If you're looking for that thing, it's still in the oven. I don't know if it's still alive or not, I haven't dared open that oven again," he said and walked out with his wife.

"If you see Sonic, send him my way," she called back to him and he said that he would.

There were no walls separating the bedroom and the kitchen in the hut so she was able to get over to the oven easily. Some residents preferred to make their own meals at home than eat in the mess hall and so some built their own kitchens in their huts. Saved time to make your own meals than wait in line for one.

She was about to open the oven when she felt a gust of wind and looked to her side and saw that Sonic was already there.

Sally chuckled and said, "He found you pretty quickly didn't he?"

Sonic nodded and said, "Well that's me. I can be anywhere at once."

Sally surpressed a giggle and asked, "Did Mr Scroggins fill you in on what happened?"

Sonic nodded and added, "And showed me what happened to his wife. You'd think someone who's been around as long as him would know what attacked his wife."

Sally rolled her eyes and pulled a bobby pin out of a pocket on her vest. She used it to pick the lock that Old Man Scroggins had placed between the bars of the oven to keep it closed. She was about to pull it open when Sonic stopped her.

"Are you sure you want to do this Sal? What if it's still alive in there?" he asked.

"That's why you're here Sonic. You're faster than it and I'm sure you can get it before it got away," she told him and he nodded.

They stood to the sides of the oven and pulled the door down. There was still smoke inside and it billowed out as the door fell. The smoke blew out the window, but the two of them still coughed as the smoke floated in the room. It took a moment, but soon most of the smoke was clear and they could look inside. Sure enough there was something inside. They couldn't make out what it was so Sally cautiously reached in, being ready to move her hand back if the thing moved, and grabbed it's tail. With a quick yank, she pulled it out and it fell onto the floor. It was certainly dead now.

As they looked at it, they both nearly reeled back from the sight of it. It was charred black from being cooked in the oven but they could still make out it's features. One eye was open and even though it was glazed over they could see that it had been an unearthly shade of red. Spike's adorned it's sides and on the top of it's head which ended in triangular shaped snout. It's mouth was wide open and she could see that it's teeth was unusually sharp. Almost like that of a razor. If it's neck muscles were strong enough then it's no wonder it was able to take a chunk out of the poor woman's hand. It's tail was very ratlike, but the creature itself was as big as a regular cat. What got her most though was it's claws and how sharp they were.

She pulled out Nicole from a holster on her boot and did a quick scan of the beast's claws.

"Nicole I need you to scan the claws of this creature we found. Do you think it could have been the same thing that was at my door?" she said to her computer.

"Scanning," said Nicole.

After a few seconds Nicole ringed in, "Confirmed. This creature's claws are a perfect match for the scratches on your door Sally."

Sally shuddered and decided to take some samples from this thing. Using a knife that she carried in another vest pocket, she got a quick tissue and blood sample. She'd close off the hut and come back for a saliva sample to try to determine what kind of bacteria were in it's mouth and see what had gotten into Mrs Scroggins bite.

"What do you hope to find out Sal?" he asked.

"What this creature is and what it did to Mr Scroggins wife. But moreover to see if it's a known species or not. Either way I want everyone in Knothole to exercise caution. I'm not sure of it, but if this thing is connected to last night's events then we may have trouble," she answered.

Sonic realized what she was saying and said, "So you think there might be more of them out there?"

Reluctantly, Sally answered with a nod of her head.

**That ends this chapter. Sorry if these first few chapters are a little boring, but there will be action coming soon. But now they have an idea of what's to come.**

**If there are any questions, concerns, suggestions, or advice feel free to comment because I'm always listening.**


	3. Stranger of the Forest

**Special thanks to Sonicshadowandtailsfanforever and Ghostkid33 for the review and the like. As for everyone else who's reading, thanks for reading and I hope you all enjoy this story. Now lets get back into it.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except the creatures I use. Except for one in the future.**

The day wore on and before Sally knew it, the afternoon had set in. She had taken all of the samples that she had gotten from the creature and put them into special storage. She had Nicole analyze them and store the data so that she could compare them to other known samples in the future. But for now she had other responsibilities that she needed to attend to.

Despite all that had happened that morning, she still planned to get some lessons in for Tails. Unfortunatly the lessons that she had planned the day before involved studying certain plants and herbs out in the forest. She was apprehensive about going out there, especially after the day's earlier events. But she would be making sure that Tails was safe out there. She'd be keeping a closer eye on him and asked Sonic to go with them to which Sonic instantly agreed to. He'd do anything for his best little bud.

They carefully exited Knothole through one of their hidden exits that had placed around the forest. Sonic poked his head out first to check around and to make sure that the coast was clear. When he was sure, Sally came out and did the same. They didn't want to take any chances, especially when Tails was in the mix.

"Okay the coast is clear bud. You can come on out," Sonic called down to him.

Tails did exactly as he was told and climbed out of the stump that they were using. Backpack in hand he followed them out partway into the woods. Even though it was dangerous, Sally and the others liked coming out into the forest whenever they did. Most of the time it seemed to be nice and tranquil. Almost as if there was nothing to worry about at all. It reminded Sally and Sonic of the early days. The days before the war. The days before Doctor Robotnik took over. Sally hoped that they'd be able to experience peace on their planet again someday. But as long as Robotnik was in power, that would just be a dream.

The village of Knothole was hidden deep within the Great Forest. The entrance they kept secret in the hopes that Robotnik would not be able to find it. To date they had had a few close calls, especially on one occasion when Snively had been able to hypnotize Sonic and make him think that the two of them were best friends. It took getting a power ring to Sonic to fix that problem. Even though she and Sonic's uncle Chuck had played a part in saving Sonic, in Sally's mind it was Tails who was the real hero that day. If he hadn't gotten to the ring from their pond in time, there'd probably be no more Knothole left.

"So what are you going to teach me today Sally?" Tails asked after a little walk.

Without turning towards him, Sally merely said, "There's some tree's in the forest who's bark can be used to treat aches. I just need to remember where it is and then I can start showing you how it works."

Sonic let out a small chuckle and said, "Could even be a chance to restock some of the medical supplies."

Sally nudged him and whispered to him, "It's two fold. I teach Tails something he needs to know and we take care of some supplies. We need some extra to for Mrs. Scroggins' hand."

Tails was following close behind but couldn't hear much of their conversation. But he did hear Sally mention Mr Scroggins' wife. Word travels fast around Knothole and all he had heard is that she was sick. He didn't know how bad, but since she had to be taken to the medical hut it must have been serious. He remembered having pneumonia once and spent nearly a week there. He just hoped that she wasn't as sick as he had been.

"Tails? Is there anything you need little bro?" Sonic asked.

Tails looked up and said, "No. Nothing at all. Are we there yet?"

Sally looked around and said, "I was sure that they were around here. Give me a sec to figure things out."

She pulled Nicole out of her boot holster and pulled up the map that she had made of the forest. She rarely used it, but she wasn't feeling like herself right now due to that morning. As she was looking at however, she noticed something a little... off. During her off time, Nicole had been working to pinpoint some of the energy signals that she had detected the night before. And now there were a few visible on the map with one of them nearby. This was alarming for her because she didn't know how dangerous it could be. She certainly didn't want to endanger herself or her friends. Especially Tails. But knew that it could worse if they didn't find out what was causing this.

"Um Sonic can I talk to you for a sec? In private," she said.

Sonic nodded and told Tails to stay near them. As he walked over, Sally showed him Nicole's map.

"What are we looking at Sal?" he asked her.

Sally shrugged and said, "An energy spike. It's nearby and by the looks of things... it's right near where we have to go."

Sonic knew what that meant.

"You want me to go on ahead and check things out?" he asked.

Sally nodded and said, "I hate to ask, but it would help very much."

Sonic listened to what she said and went back to Tails.

"I gotta check something out real quick big guy. Stay here with Sal and I'll be back soon," he said as he jostled the hair Tails head.

Tails understood, but he and Sally once again had to hang on to something as Sonic ran ahead or "juice" as he called it.

They watched as Sonic disappeared from sight and waited on him. After a few minutes though when Sonic didn't return, Sally began to feel a little concerned. Sonic never took this long to get back. Unless something else were going on.

"What's taking Sonic so long?" Tails asked her.

Sally shook her head and said, "I don't know. He may have gotten lost, it wouldn't be the first time."

"Or maybe I had something to do with it," said a voice from above.

As soon as they had heard it, Sally and Tails looked up above them. But there was no one there.

"Oops. Did I mislead you? Maybe I'm right next to you," said the voice, this time coming from their left.

But like last time, there was no one there.

"Or maybe I'm behind you. Or too your right. Maybe up in the the sky," the voice said coming from each respectable location.

That is until...

"Or maybe, I'm right in front of you," it said one final time.

This time, the voice was on the mark. Once Sally and Tails looked ahead of them once more, they both let out a scream. There stood a man looming over them. His head was hidden by the hood of a brown coat and an obvious mask covered his face. It was plastic and shaped like a cartoonish looking skull with bulging eyes on it. Under his coat he wore a flannel shirt combined with a pair of jeans. On his hands he wore a pair of cheap work gloves, the kind that gardeners would wear on a daily basis. From the way he walked and by his height, Sally figured that this man had to be an Overlander. Even though most had deserted Mobius, she figured there were still one or two wandering around. She just hadn't seen one til now.

The man acted like he was taken aback and with a laugh he said, "Oh I'm sorry. Did I frighten you? I have a tendency to do that."

Sally tried to get over her shock and asked, "W-who are you?"

The man laughed a little and said, "I find it odd that a little lady like you would ask a random stranger who they were without introducing themselves first. Some may consider it a rude gesture."

Now this man was officially taunting them and he was creeping Sally out as she tried to keep Tails hidden behind her. But he took note of this and turned his attention to the young fox.

"And what's this. A young'un? Cute kid, but he's in bit of a bad spot now," the stranger continued as he tried to get a closer look at Tails.

Sally stood in the man's way and through clenched teeth she said, "You stay away from him. You don't look at him and you don't talk to him."

The stranger scoffed and said, "So you meet a random man in the woods and you automatically don't trust him. Very well I see how it is. I was just trying to say you may want to watch yourselves. Especially the boy."

It was those last three words that changed Sally's view. What did he mean by "Especially the boy?" Was this man here to warn them about something. Or could it have been a threat aimed at the both of them. She need to know for everyone's sake. The man had turned away and it looked like he was starting to wander off.

Not wanting to take any chances, Sally held out her hand and said, "Wait! What did you mean by that?"

Even though neither Sally or Tails could see it, the man smirked behind his mask and turned to face them one more.

"Oh I'm sorry did I just hear something? Was the lady who tried to get my name without informing me of her own asking me about my business? Why should I help some unruly characters?" he asked.

Sally let out a groan of frustration. This man was really trying her patience now. But there was no use arguing with him. With a sigh of exasperation she finally relented and gave him exactly as he desired.

"Okay I'm sorry for my rudeness. My name is Sally and this is Tails. Happy now?" she said to him.

The man laughed and danced a little jig.

"Very well then. As to your original question, I have no known name. Never needed one before. But I like to call myself Harvester. No real reason. Just always sort of liked it and it fit my profession well. As for your second I can fill you in. Not long ago I was trapped in place where no escape was possible. That's all you need to know about where I came from. But then not long ago something happened. A big bright light appeared and sucked me into it. I felt like I was falling but before long I came to realize that I was floating. Like a feather in the wind. I thought I was alone, but soon I realized that there were others, plenty of them. I couldn't see them but I could hear their voices and what exactly they planed to do. I counted and there were exactly a dozen of us floating about. We were then scattered around the area. I crashed to the ground here in this forest and saw another crash near me. It skittered away before I could see it. Now I just wonder, where exactly is this place? And what are a child and a young lady like you doing so far out in the forest?" the man now known as Harvester asked.

Sally was stunned by what the man had told her. If he was telling her the truth and that he wasn't from Mobius then who was he and where did he come from? Moreover the idea of a dozen unexplained things suddenly arriving on Mobius terrified her. Could the thing that Mr Scroggins killed be one of them and could it have been related to last night's energy wave? If so, then they had a bigger fight at hand. Especially if they were as dangerous as the creature from the night before. At least now she knew how many of them there could be.

"Well? Are you going to answer or not?" Harvester asked her.

Sally shook her head and said, "That's none of your business."

Harvester chuckled again and with a growl he said, "I don't believe I ever said that you had a say in it. I demand to know where you are from. Either tell me... or I take the boy. One is as good as the other. I'm not picky."

Tails gasped and wrapped his arms around Sally tightly and said, "He's scaring me."

"I wouldn't give you either one. Get away from us now," she said and wrapped her own arms around Tails.

Harvester sighed and pinched the bridge of the nose on his mask.

"They're always so stubborn, especially parents. So many needless deaths. Fine then, you've made your choice. Now here's my response," he said and then proceeded to charge at them.

Sally released Tails and as the man reached them, time seemed to slow down. Sally spun around and kicked him in the side of the head. As his head swung to the side, Sally got under him and kicked his chest and sent him crashing into a tree headfirst. With a very loud crack, he fell to the ground and remained still for a moment. He sat back up and acted as if the kick and crash hadn't fazed him at all, which probably didn't. Sally looked at the mask he wore and saw that a small crack had formed on the top of it.

"So this one has fight in her? Oh well. Just means more fun for me," he said and stood up once more.

He reared back and prepared to pounce. Seeing as they had nowhere else to go, Tails twisted his twin tails together and released them, allowing them to spin and letting him take to the air. He lifted off the ground and grabbed Sally by the hands. Together they took off just as the Harvester pounced at them. But he was too late to grab them and instead, he struck the tree that they had been standing by. He looked up to watch them fly away and he looked on in astonishment.

"A child who can fly? Clever yet interesting. Alright if you really want to do this, game on," he said to himself.

He watched them fly off and started to follow them. Tails in the meantime looked back to see him running after them. He knew that he'd only be airborne for a few minutes before his tails lost their momentum and then they'd have to fall back to the ground. It didn't help that he was carrying someone as well. Moreover he had no idea where they could go or if they would be safe wherever he dropped them. At any right, fatigue began to set in before long and they both began descending.

"Come on Tails. I know you can keep going. Remember that both of our lives are at stake," Sally reminded him.

That reminder was enough for Tails to try to summon some extra strength. He held onto Sally as hard as his hands would let him and tried to keep the spinning in his tails going. But it wasn't enough and soon they began dropping again. And next thing they knew, they were back on the ground. But it had been an easy landing and they were quickly back on their feet and running once more.

But as they rounded one tree, they were quickly stopped right in their tracks as they bumped into a familiar being. Harvester had moved on ahead and cut off their escape route. He stood over them once more and began cackling.

"Trying to escape eh? No matter, I've always loved a chase. What's the point of making a claim when there isn't any fun to be had? Now hold still and I'll make it quick," he said with evil in his voice.

He bent down and began reaching for the two of them. Sally struggled to get herself and Tails back on their feet, but she was in too much panic to do so. But then she heard a buzzing sound and it was quickly approaching them. As she heard it, a smirk came across her face. Harvester saw her smirk and paused, but before he could say anything, the buzzing noise approached and something slammed into his back and sent him soaring into the air. He landed with a thud and groaned.

Sally turned to face the source of the buzzing and saw the familiar blue spinning ball as it halted and stood back up.

"Scaring others is not cool buddy. Now why would you do that to my friends?" Sonic asked the guy angrily.

Harvester sat back up and said, "That one actually hurt. How is that possible?"

He stood on shaking legs and then sent a glare to the hedgehog.

"Answer the question," Sonic demanded much more forcefully.

Harvester let out a much louder growl and then leapt up into a tree.

"This isn't over you little twerps. But it's enough for now. You may have prolonged your lives but you can't escape you inevitable fates. Remember what I said earlier little lady. Watch your backs, but keep a close eye on the kids," Harvester said and then went higher up and out of sight.

Sonic watched him leave and was prepared to go after, but his concern for Sally and Tails took over. He helped the both of them their feet and they both greeted him with a hug.

"Thank you Sonic. Thank you," Sally said into his shoulder.

In all of their years of fighting, he had rarely seen Sally cry. She wasn't but he could feel that she was close to it.

"No prob Sal. How are you holding up big guy?" Sonic asked Tails.

Tails nodded and Sally turned her attention to him.

"Tails you did great out there. You took a chance and got us out. That's an important lesson to be learned for the freedom fighters," she said and hugged the boy.

In truth though, Sally cared less about herself. That guy had threatened Tails and she wasn't about to take that lying down. To threaten any child, especially the children of Knothole, was bad enough. But to threaten this child, HER child, was enough to make her blood boil.

"Sonic where did you go?" Tails asked his big brother figure.

Sonic inhaled and said, "I saw that guy that I just attacked. He was wandering around and I tried to approach him thinking that he was a traveler or that he may have needed some help. But when he saw me he began walking away from, so I went after. He went behind some trees and as soon as I got to where he had been, he was gone. So I searched around looking for him. Then I saw the two of you flying by and I saw him going after you guys. And that's how I found ya. Guess I was in the right place at the right time."

Sally nodded and said, "Thanks again Sonic. But now we know something is up."

"Say what? What happened?" Sonic asked.

"He mentioned something about there being a dozen different things out there. And from the way he said it, it wasn't anything good. We have to get back to Knothole and get ready. Cause that's most likely what they are going to be after," she said.

Sonic nodded and they started making their way home.

"Oh and one more thing. I got the bark you needed," Sonic said and pulled some strips of bark out of quills.

Sally felt relieved and reminded herself to thank him later. She also told herself that if she saw Harvester again, that she'd tear him apart.

**That'll do for now. Now we know what's up and so do Sally and them. Now the question is, can they stop it? And what is the new guy up to?**

**If you enjoyed, feel free to comment. But if there are any suggestions or advice, feel free to say.**


	4. Interruptions

**Thanks for the reviews everyone and I'm glad that folks are enjoying the story so far. Enjoy this next chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except the creatures I use. Except for the one I bring in this chapter. You'll have to find out who it is for yourself.**

In Robotropolis things were not getting any better for Snively. He hadn't slept at all since the failed the experiment the night before and it was beginning to take a toll on him. Another fine example of how low his life had gotten. He had gotten no closer to finding the problem with the Void Projector since last night and the continued pressure from Doctor Robotnik and lack of sleep was taking it's toll. If he didn't find the issue soon, he'd pass out or worse.

He began nodding off when the Doctor's voice boomed once more.

"SNIVELY! WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT SLEEPING ON THE JOB!?" came the evil doctor's voice.

Snively shrieked and was wide awake once again. He turned his attention to the monitor in the room and said, "I wasn't sleeping sir. I was thinking. I think better with my eyes closed."

Robotnik was not amused by Snively's excuses and said, "A likely story. I want that machine fixed. If I catch you sleeping again, I'll be testing my experimental gene machine on you. I'm sure you wouldn't like an extra mouth where your stomach is would you?

Snively shook his head and said, "No not at all sir."

Robotnik smiled evily and said, "Good. Now get back to work."

As soon as the screen was blank, Snively sneered and began grumbling angrily to himself. But as he began examining the machine for the hundredth time, he heard a mechanical whir from nearby. He looked up from his work and observed the area around him. There was nothing around so he tried to ignore it and returned to the machine and then he heard the noise once more.

"Okay who's there? If this one of the worker bots, you get back to work and leave me in peace," said Snively.

There was no answer and Snively turned his attention back to his work. Then a minute later he heard the sound again and it was louder. This time Snively was growing increasingly annoyed.

"Okay who is there? I've got a lot of work to do and this is getting very distracting," he said demanding an answer.

But just like the first time there was no answer. But while he was still looking up from his work, the noise came again. But since he could actually focus on it this time, he could determine where the noise was coming from and it sounded like it was coming from above. He looked up and barely had time to scream as the sharp teeth went for the front of his head. He dodged just in time to avoid getting bitten, but he dreaded what he saw.

Sitting on the floor in front of him was a mangled mess of machinery with the face of a white fox with pink dimples painted on it's face. It had one operating eye and a mechanical head was hanging out of the face portion. The rest of it's body was having a hard time moving about on the ground until it jumped into the air and started clinging to the ceiling. It opened it's maw and let out a shriek that a ring of mechanics and electricity to it. It crawled it's way across the ceiling and lunged for Snively once again. But he turned and shielded his forehead and began running for the elevator. He ran quickly, but he could hear it gaining on him as it skittered it's way on the ceiling, chasing him the whole way.

He reached the elevator and hastily pushed the button, but he had to wait for the elevator car to arrive. But as he waited, the thing got closer and closer. It's nasty jaw opening as it got closer and it let out another hideous shriek. Finally the doors behind Snively slid open and he practically fell inside. He quickly pulled himself up and hit one of the floors. The creature was practically upon him and made a leap from the ceiling with it's hideous jaw wide open, ready to take a bite out of him. But then the doors slid closed and the beast hit the doors after they had closed. It tried prying the doors open but to no avail. It let out a second shriek in frustration as it's prey was getting away. It went back to the doors and began trying the doors again.

Snively was breathing hard as he had just barely gotten away from certain death. All he could do for the moment was sit in a fetal position as he tried to recollect himself and his thoughts. Unfortunatly, this was shattered a moment later when he heard another sound that he dreaded.

"SNIVELY! What are you doing? Why are you not back down in the lab?" boomed Robotnik's voice.

Snively let out a squeal and noticed that the voice came from the intercom in the elevator and Robotnik must have been observing him through a camera in the elevator.

He pressed the button on the intercom and said, "Forgive me sir but there is something in the lab. Something that tried to bite my head off."

"Well what kind of something was it Snively. And you had better not be making some poor excuse," Robotnik returned.

"Check the security monitors. It's some kind of robotic beast," Snively said.

Despite this though, Snively figured it wouldn't impress the doctor in the slightest. Everything they did involved robotics and likely he would have figured this was another project of theirs that went awry.

Just as he figured Robotnik growled and said, "Then why aren't you down getting it under control? It's probably one of the workers malfunctioning again."

Snively was shaking his head and said, "It wasn't one of the workers sir. It didn't look remotely like one. It was just a head and a body of-"

Before Snively could finish, there came a screeching sound as something was tearing at the escape hatch at the top of the elevator. He looked up just in time to see the hatch being torn away from it's hinges and saw the hideous robot looming above him. It must have gotten into the shaft, but how could it have gotten to the elevator so quickly? Not even Sonic could move that fast. Not up an elevator shaft that is.

It climbed into the elevator and opened it's jaw once more. But before it could bite down on him, the doors slid open and Snively was able to crawl out just as the jaws chomped down on the air right where his head would have been. It was the same location that Robotnik was currently in and he was actually startled by the commotion that Snively and the robot made as the elevator popped open.

"Snively? What is that thing?" Robotnik stated as he saw the bot.

He didn't get an answer as this thing continued snapping at Snively and he kept avoiding it's bites.

Robotnik turned to his intercom and yelled out, "Get security up here NOW! We have an intruder."

Not twenty seconds later, doors on the other side of the room slid open and a handful of swatbots entered the room. The thing turned towards them and screeched again. As they began blasting at it, it stopped going after Snively and rushed the bots by climbing onto the ceiling and then charged them. The first bot was disabled as the head of it was bitten right off and then the second was blasted by the first bot as it's body fell to the ground and misfired. After discovering this, it was easy for the bot to take on the rest of the group.

Robotnik watched this and ordered more bots up to the main room. The machine had just finished off the first group when the second and much larger group arrived. It shrieked again and this time it actually spoke in words.

"Forget the little one. This is not worth my time," it said in a mechanical and yet slightly feminine voice.

It rushed for the main room's window and jumped right out and into the city. Robotnik looked out and watched as the thing climbed down the side of a building and leaped from street light to street light at street level. This was observed by Robotnik and a lot of the worker bots, including one sentient mechanical hedgehog. As he watched the creature make it's getaway, it took the time to sneak from the scene and get to a discreet location.

"I need to warn Sonic and Sally about this. If it's one of Robotnik's creations and it reaches the forest moving the way it does, there'll be trouble," he said and began writing down a note that he'll send via his bird friend.

It didn't take too long for the thing to get out of the city, even with all of the security bots chasing it around. Some of them even lost their heads or the front parts of the head as it bit down on them. Before long it was out and scuttled across the ground and towards the forest. The security bots were prepared to enter, but were called back by Robotnik.

"No need to chase it any further. It's the Freedom Fighter's problem now. Let them deal with it," he said and laughed.

The bots stopped pursing and did just as Robotnik said and turned back towards the city. Leaving this thing to move free among the trees of the forest where it could move about unimpeded. Especially now in the fading daylight.

In the meantime in Knothole, Sally had called a meeting with the entirety of the village to discuss what Harvester had told her earlier. Everyone was there with the exception of Tails who was currently sitting in the mess hall with the other kids of Knothole and a few adults who were keeping an eye on them. Even Mrs. Scroggins was there. The paste that Sally had made from the bark had helped lower the infection in her hand and it wasn't hurting nearly as mush as it had the earlier. For that, everyone was grateful.

Sally stood before the residents and said, "Thank you all for coming and I understand that some of you have some questions and concerns for some of the events that have occurred over the last twenty-four hours such as the disturbance last night and what happened to the Scroggins'. Truthfully I don't fully know what's going on, but I have some general ideas about some of the events that have been going on. All I can say is that someone has made a major threat on us and I find them far more dangerous and cunning than Doctor Robotnik. One that threatens our very home, our very lives, and our children. Unlike Robotnik, this one threatens death rather than enslavement."

As she said these words, half the villagers let out gasps while the rest looked on in horrified amazement. They had received threats before, especially from raiders. But they never meant any ill intentions other than stealing food and medical supplies. With the exception of a group that had planned on eating Antoine once. This went beyond their usual skirmishes with Robotnik's forces. This was a serious threat to their lives. At least with Robotnik they faced becoming robots. Horrible yes, but much preferable than being slaughtered or watching the ones they care about being slaughtered. They all began muttering amongst themselves when Sally refocused their attention.

"QUIET! Now I know all of you are concerned for your families but let me assure you that me and the rest of the Freedom Fighters will do our best to defend this village. Between last night's rude awakening, the bite that Mr Scroggins wife received and a stranger in the woods today, I have reason to believe that all three are connected. So I take this threat very seriously. Night watch will be doubled and a few extra guards will patrol around at night. This is for the safety of all the residents of Knothole. I need volunteers. Is anyone here willing to help out?" she addressed the crowd.

Thankfully, several residents raised their hands into the air. Most of them had families of their own and were ready and willing to protect them.

Sally nodded in appreciation and said, "I thank you all for your help. And for the time being, I'm having the children of Knothole moved into the mess hall during the night time hours. The biggest threat was made towards them and they will be kept under constant guard. If there are any concerns I will happily answer any ques-"

But Sally was cut off as something crashed onto the roof of the meeting hall and crashed through to the floor knocking around some of the folks in attendance. It quickly picked itself up off the ground and turned on them. It had wings like those of a bat sticking out of it's bear shaped body that easily slid back into it's body. Not fold against, but slid back in. It stood on it's hind legs and reached a height of nearly seven feet. Worst of all however was it's head. The creature had a head that was seriously unheard of. It had the shape of a scarred bear, almost as if it had taken a quick dunk in acid and then was immediatly pulled back out again. The irises of it's eyes were glazed over and it sniffed the air with it's malformed snout. It's mouth opened up and revealed two rows of crooked, but dangerously pointed teeth.

The residents ran from their seats and rushed for the exits. Most got out, but a few were too scared to move, including one that the monster was standing over. It sniffed the man out and set it's paws down on him to hold him down. It opened it's mouth, ready to chomp on him when he was suddenly slammed by the side. Sonic had sonic rolled right into it and knocked it off of the poor guy. While the beast was down, Bunnie ran up and helped the guy to his feet. Sally and the rest helped the other frightened attendants find their nerves and allowed them to run away from the scene.

The beast stood back on it's feet and could smell and hear Sonic nearby.

"Okay monster. You want something to eat. Come and get it. I got a belly full of chili dogs for flavor for ya," he said and started creeping around the monster.

It growled and lunged for him, but missed as Sonic ran to the side. It crashed into some chairs, breaking them and skewering it's skin in several areas causing it to roar in pain.

"Ha. Too slow. Or maybe I'm too fast for ya," Sonic boasted and then ran to the other side of the room.

The creature could hear him and began charging across the room. It couldn't hear him moving and it preferred it that way. But right as it reached where Sonic would be, it heard and felt the gust of wind and ran straight into the wall and smashed it's head against it with a loud crack. The beast could feel the warmth of it's blood running down the side of it's head.

Sonic let out a mock yawn and said, "Are you even going to try. I've got a busy schedule and I don't have long to play."

The beast growled and felt the wall beside it. Even though it still had Sonic in here, it could hear more food moving about outside. It had better chances out there than in here with a speed demon. That's what it wanted, fresh meat. It raised it's paw and smashed it against the wall, causing it to crack. It smashed against the wall a second time, making it crack even more.

"Whoa! Hey don't do that," Sonic hollered out and rolled into a ball and began spinning towards it.

But it was too late as the beast smashed against the wall once more time and broke right through it this time. It escaped outside and charged out into the village. It could smell and hear the residents as they screamed. A whole village full of food and it was ripe for the picking. It began chasing around whoever was closest and snapped at them whenever it got close to someone. It couldn't see but could still tell where it's prey was through the noise they made and the odor they emitted. It found one resident, a pig man, and swiped him and sent him crashing into the wall of a nearby hut. The force of the impact caused the poor man to lose all strength in his body. The monster reached where his out cold body was, stood over him and prepared to take a bite.

And then another force got it in the side of the head and forced it to the side.

"There'll be none of tha' now you monster," Bunnie said after she had punched it with her metal fist.

It began sitting back up and started sniffing her out until it got kicked to the side by Sally.

"I made a promise to these people and I mean to keep it," she said angrily.

And then Sonic came rushing out and slammed into the beast, causing it to fly farther out and land right near a lit fire pit. Many residents lit fires at night to provide extra light for the night patrols since they couldn't always use the light of the moon for their work.

The beast's paw touched the fire and it let out a shriek. It thrashed in pain as the fire began spreading up it's arm and it accidently rolled right into the flames, spreading the fire even more. It's shrieks sent chills up the spines of all the residents as they watched it thrash around and go up in flames. It sprouted it's wings and attempted to fly off, but it was no use. It only got a short distance away before it's wings completely burned up and it fell to the ground once more with a sickening thudding and cracking sound. It screamed and screamed, but the screams died down and then became groans. Before long all noises ceased from the creature and it stopped thrashing around. Sally, Sonic and Bunnie cautiously moved forward and went over to the burning carcass. From the stillness and the excessive damage to the body, they could tell that it was done.

They all breathed a sigh of relief. Sally was thankful that the threat was done, but she had a thought. She pulled Nicole out again and checked the map on Nicole. Sure enough an energy signal was eminating around where they were standing and it's power was fading.

"Well guys if what that Harvester person told me is the truth, then that's two monsters down. We still have ten left," she said and put Nicole away.

"But at least you have Nicole to track them. Right Sal?" Sonic asked.

Sally shrugged and said, "She can't pinpoint their locations unless they're close. So until they come close to Knothole, we have no way of tracking them."

"So what should we do until then Sally girl?" Bunnie asked.

Sally looked back to the carcass which at this point was starting to burn down to the bone and said, "We watch our backs and each other."

**Two monsters are dead and ten are still at large. Time can only tell what happens next.**

**And before anyone asks, yes the monster that attacked Snively is Mangle from Five Nights at Freddy's 2. I got the idea after seeing it and figured that it'd be a terrifying addition. But I didn't think that one monster wouldn't be enough to qualify for a crossover, so yeah.**

**I also don't own any characters from Five Night's at Freddy's 2.**

**If you enjoyed or have any suggestions feel free to comment. It would help this story very much. Especially since I don't have designs for all of the monsters yet.**


	5. Screams in the Night

**Not much new to say other than we're going to get more of Mangle in this chapter. Other than that I have nothing new to say. Thanks for the reviews and views so enjoy this next chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Sonic characters or Mangle**

Some time had passed since the incident with the bear-bat creature and now a group had removed the monsters carcass from the village and out of the sight of the residents. That had been during the twilight hours of the evening and now the sun was long gone. The tension in the air was thick and everyone was on edge. Even Sally of all people was feeling tense. She had decided to be part of the night patrol tonight and Sonic was taking the night watch in the lookout tower. They'd be switching out with other residents in a few hours as the night wore on and they could get some rest themselves. Every now and then, some of the parents in Knothole would head over to the mess hall to check on their children, despite assurances that they would be fine.

Sally herself had tried to remain strong for them, but she too found herself checking in on Tails every once in a while. Just so she knew he was safe. The kids were all asleep now as they lay in the sleeping bags that had been provided for them. Everything seemed to be at peace. The night itself even seemed peaceful even after the events of the meeting. But that didn't changed how everyone felt. Many residents had come close to death that evening and the peace was tarnished by their anxiety.

In the meantime in the forest, a mechanical being was skulking around. Listening and looking for whatever it could find in this forest. It moved from tree to tree as it was easier to move among the trees than on the ground. Just like back in the pizzeria, it found it's momentum to be much easier in the air than on the slick ground where it's limbs would get hopelessly tangled. Tangled, because of those workers. Taken apart by those children. The little maggots that grabbed it's fur with their filthy and sticky little hands. Tore her fur off of her metal skeleton. This skeleton and her face were all that remained of her former self. Not even her eyes were well adjusted either as one remained in her face and the other in her metal skull.

If she could weep she would. Her old life was gone and was not coming back. The years she had spent making children happy, only to be torn from it both metaphorically and literally. Instead of being repaired, she was cast aside like garbage and left to rot in a back room while her owners simply replaced her with a brand new model just like they had done with the others. She blamed those little monsters and vowed that they would pay. She had become a take apart attraction for the kids and during one birthday party, she had snapped at one little girl in an attempt to bite her, but instead the guard got in the way. Didn't matter much to her though as she still made someone hurt.

Mangle, as she called herself, laughed at the memory of that poor man twitching on the ground and clutching his poor little head in a vain attepmt to stop the pain and the bleeding. She didn't know if he lived or died, but she didn't care seeing as she still made every child scream. Though they were screams of terror and not agony like she had wanted. Oh well, the next child she would have in her clutches would not be so lucky.

As she climbed higher into the tree's, there came a cliff in the distance. And beyond that she could see lights. Lights that were burning in windows. Windows meant buildings and buildings meant people. And she hoped that people meant there'd be some kiddies running about. She laughed to herself and crept down as low as she could go before she reached the cliff. Luckily for her there was a rope connected to a bucket down below, all attached to a pulley system. She grabbed onto the rope and was able to crawl down on it. She moved quickly enough that she was back on the ground in no time. She had to crawl around for a little bit before she reached the closest hut. She quickly climbed up the outside wall and onto the roof. But peering inside she found some people, but none like the kind she was after.

And so she went from hut to hut, doing her best to remain unseen and unnoticed. There were some residents of this little town out patrolling. There was even a tower near the edge of the village and there was someone looking around. Mangle saw this and would duck from sight whenever the guy in the tower turned her way or when the guards were coming by. There was no need in being caught, not yet at least. So far in her little hunt, she had found no kids. Just a bunch of adults that were either asleep or wide awake in fear of something. What that was though was something that Mangle could care less about.

She was just about to scream in frustration when she heard some giggling coming from a building nearby. It was bigger than many of the other buildings. And the giggling didn't sound like anything she'd hear an adult do. So Mangle jumped to the roof and pulled part of the ceiling away and looked inside.

In the meantime, Sally's night patrol shift came to an end as Bunnie took her spot. Before she went to back to her place, Sally decided to stop by Rotor's hut to check up on him. From the looks of things, he was burning the midnight oil once again as he did most nights. She knocked on his door and a moment later, Rotor came up an answered her.

Rotor was an overweight walrus and he was the oldest of the Freedom Fighters at the age of nineteen. He was their resident mechanic and he was one of the freedom fighters lifelines. His work in repairing their gear and his inventions were invaluable to them. Without him, their supplies and equipment would become useless. That's why he stayed behind on most missions. Most, not all.

"Hey Sally. What's up?" he asked as he answered the door.

Sally gave him a little wave and said, "Hey Rotor. Not much, just checking up on the rest of the village after what happened tonight."

Rotor let out a laugh and said, "I can imagine. Things have been weird."

"Weird is an understatement. More like frightening," Sally replied back.

"Hey since your here, you mind taking a look at something I've been working on? Mind you, it's just a prototype for now," Rotor asked her.

Sally nodded and said, "Always happy to take a look."

She entered his hut and waited for Rotor to get what he needed to show her. Rotor's hut was one of the messiest in the village, but that was for a good reason. He was their mechanic after all and he always had spare parts lying around for whenever he needed them. And he also used a lot of grease and oil to keep everything in good working order and sometimes it spilled. How he managed to get his hands clean at all was beyond her.

He went to his workbench and started going through all of the stuff that he had piled on it. And believe it, there was a lot there.

"That's not it. Nope. Nuh-uh. Hey I was looking for that," he said as he went through each item and tossed them aside.

"Rotor it would probably help if you organized everything. That way you don't have to go searching every time you need to show me something," she advised him.

Rotor sighed and said, "I know Sally. I keep meaning to, but I forget whenever I have another project to work on."

As he said that, he found what he was looking for. At first glance it looked like an ordinary spark plug, but as he pulled on some rubber gloves, he went back to Sally to give her a better look. As he showed it to her, he twisted the top and it emitted some sparks.

"See this? This can be used on any bot or piece of machinery and permanently shut it down. All it took was causing the electronics inside to emit outwardly instead of internally. The problem is using it without shocking or burning the person holding it," he told her as they watched it.

"So it's not ready for use in combat?" she asked.

Rotor shook his head and said, "Or field testing either. You need rubber gloves just to hold it longer than a few seconds. And we don't have enough of those to go around. Nope this is one item that might never be more than a prototype."

"Mind if I take it though? I'm sure it might come in handy somewhere," she asked.

He said she could, turned the device off and handed it to Sally. She placed it in her vest pocket and prepared to leave, but it was then that something flew in through the window. As she looked to see what it was, she noticed that it was a rolled up piece of paper. She instantly realized that it was from Sonic's Uncle Chuck. Their inside source of all of Robotnik's plans. That was just perfect. While all of this going on for them, it now looked like that Robotnik was up to something else. But as she started reading the note, she realized that it something completely different.

Here's what the note read.

_Dear Sonic and Sally._

_Things have gotten hectic here today. Some kind of robotic monster attacked Robotnik from the inside of his base. I don't exactly know how to explain what attacked him other than it's not like any of Robotnik's other creations that I have seen. This one looked more disorganized than his usual inventions. Looked more frightening than anything. It escaped into the forest as it was staying off the ground as much as it could. I send this to warn you because that thing might be heading your way. It was moving quickly and didn't look like it was tiring down. Please keep an eye out as it is very likely to be dangerous._

The note ended here and Sally dropped it right then and there. Thinking quickly, she pulled out Nicole and started scanning for any nearby energy signals. And sure enough there was a new one right in the middle of the village. Located right at the mess hall. Where all the kids were currently sleeping.

The night air was suddenly pierced by a loud scream and was quickly followed by many scream all coming from the same spot. It didn't take Sally any time realize where the screams were coming from.

"The kids! Tails!" she said in horror.

The rest of the village could hear the screams as quickly as they started. Sonic had been in the lookout tower when he heard them and was so glad that his relief was already climbing up the tower when the kids started screaming. He immediately climbed from the tower and rolled along the ground to prevent injury as he jumped from the ladder. He hoped that he wasn't too late as he began dashing for the mess hall.

Back when Mangle had pulled away the roofing for the mess hall she was ecstatic to see not one or two, but a dozen kids. Plenty of children for her to take her revenge on. But first she needed to subdue the adults that were in the room keeping an eye on the kids. Lucky for her, the adults were nodding off and she was able to sneak up on them easily. Before they could even yell out, Mangle had the both of them in choke holds as she quickly knocked them out. Since her beef wasn't with adults, she wasn't out to kill them. Sure she enjoyed their pain, but they weren't what she was after. It was those little urchins she wanted and now no one was present to stop her.

She stayed on the ground as it caused less noise and crept up on them and watched them as they were sleeping. Which one should she tear to shreds first? There were so many to choose from, but then her eyes landed on a young fox. A fox? Just like her. Or rather what she used to be. All this did was give her painful memory of her old life and it mocked her. Just looking at this child was mocking her. He would be the first to go. To erase all of the painful memories she had to endure. She growled and started reaching for him.

It was then that a young raccoon girl sleeping near Tails stirred and looked up near him. The moment she saw Mangle reaching for Tails, she completely woke up and started screaming at the top of her lungs. Her screaming woke up the rest of the kids and as soon as they saw the mechanical fiend in the room with them, they too started screaming. As soon as Tails saw Mangle, he kicked out of his sleeping bag and began trying to back away from her as much as possible.

Mange growled and backed the kids into a corner of the room where there was nowhere to run. Despite this, Mangle's plan hadn't changed. Instead she decided to have a little fun first and started mocking them.

"Yo ho kids it's me. Your old pal Foxy. The original Foxy," she said and laughed.

Her jaw snapped open and shut a bit before she continued.

"You kids seem a bit anxious. That's no fun for me or anyone else here. Calm down. I SAID CALM DOWN!" she said and then started growling.

The kids all backed as far away from her as they could. Tails stood in front of them, trying to look brave before the mechanical beast. Despite the fact that this beast was nearly three times his size. Mangle merely laughed at the boy's feeble attempts at intimidation.

"There's no need for that now children. I don't ask for much in return. I just want revenge for all you little beasts tearing me apart. Now I'm going to do the same to you," she said and reached for the kids once again.

But before she could do anything, the door to the mess hall burst open and diverted her attention. She didn't have time to react as she saw a blue blurry ball rushing right for her and knocking her away from the kids. Sonic came to a halt and he then stood back up straight and turned to the kids.

"Now's your chance kids. You need to get away," Sonic instructed them.

The kids did exactly as they were told and rushed out. But Mangle was back up in a second and was able to push Sonic aside and jumped to the ceiling once more. She dashed across the top of the room and spotted the fox child once more. Before Tails could get out of the room, Mangle reached down and grabbed the boy by the scruff of his neck and hoisted him back up.

Tails let out a startled yelp as this monster grabbed him and pulled him off the ground. In no time at all, the pain of being held like this began to set it.

"STOP! Let me go," Tails cried and began struggling in Mangle's grip.

Sonic shook off being shoved to the side and looked up to see Tails in the grasp of that monster. Sally arrived at the mess hall and entered in as soon as the kids were all out. She let out a gasp as soon as she saw Tails and Mangle. Not just by the site of Tails in the Mangle's grasp but also by the horrible appearance of the mechanical being as it loomed above. No wonder Uncle Chuck had been concerned. The way it moved on the ceiling and the way it contorted it's limbs give it a much more frightening appearance.

Sonic glared at the monster and said, "Stop right there! Put him down."

Mangle turned sharply towards Sonic and in her mechanical voice she said, "Stay out of this you. My problem isn't with you lot. It's with these filthy little urchins you call children. Them and their dirty deeds."

Sonic continued his glare. Sally wandered to him so that she could stand with him as they faced down this monster together.

"What have you got against children? What have they ever done to you?" Sonic demanded.

Mangle let an unearthly hiss and practically shoved herself into their faces.

"WHAT DID THEY DO? LOOK AT ME! I used to be appealing to look at. All the kids loved me. I would sing and dance for them and all I ever wanted was a little love from them which is what they gave me. They liked me and I liked them. But then... then one child would start pulling on me with the parents just sitting nearby and doing nothing. Next thing I knew another child would come up and do the same. And then another and another. Before I knew it, they were all over me. Pulling and tearing at my fur and my body. Leaving only my metal skeleton behind. We animatronics feel pain too you know. But then again who cares? We're just robots, giant toys to the likes of them. Something to break once you get tired of it," she said through her anger.

'Is that what happened to her? Makes sense why she would hate kids. But we've never met her before. This isn't right,' Sally thought to herself.

Sally took a step forward and calmly said, "Okay just please calm down. I understand that you're angry and I can understand why. But these kids have never done anything to you. Tonight is the first time any of us have ever seen you. So please just let him go and you can walk away from this."

Mangle only hissed some more and Tails began to struggle a little bit more. But he stopped as Mangle applied more pressure where she held him, causing more pain. Tears of agony began to stream down his face as he silently wished for this monster to let go of him.

Mangle's anger flared and said, "WALK AWAY? These little monsters made my life torment and agony. They tore me to shreds and I plan to do the same to them."

She placed one of her hands near Tails' throat and said, "Starting with this one."

As Mangle began cackling hideously, Sally tried to find some way to get to the two them before it was too late. But how? She couldn't jump that high and couldn't climb up. Thankfully she got her solution as Sonic yelled out to her.

"Yo Sal! Give me a boost," Sonic shouted and tucked in and prepared to roll.

Sally understood what that meant. She fell to the ground and pressed her back to the floor as Sonic rushed forward. As soon as he reached Sally, she pulled her feet back and sent him flying as she kicked him upward. Mangle now had her hand on Tails' throat and was ready to tear into him when Sonic collided with the two of them, knocking Tails out of Mangle's grip and causing Mangle to partially hang from the ceiling. Sally was back on her feet and caught Tails just before he could hit the ground.

Sonic landed back on his two feet, but was quickly blindsided as Mangle used one of her limbs to knock him away again. She tried going for Tails again and reached down to grab at him. It was during this that Sally remembered what Rotor had shown her earlier. She set Tails down and reached into her vest pocket, pulling out the spark plug that she had gotten earlier. As Mangle loomed over the both of them, Sally twisted the top and jammed right into the empty eye socket of Mangle's robotic head, sending a sparks everywhere accompanied by the sound of electricity crackling. Sally watched in amazement and then began blowing on her hands as they began to feel the burn from the device.

As soon as she could feel the electricity rushing through her, Mangle screamed and reached for the socket where the spark plug was currently jammed. She tried pulling it out, but to no avail. Instead it spread the surge of electricity up her arm and through the rest of her body. She fell from the ceiling and crawled along the ground. She tried getting her limbs back up, but she couldn't bring herself more than a foot off of the ground. By the time she was outside, almost all of her energy had been sapped from her. Eventually she gave up and just lied there as the crackling began dying down and she could feel her circuits burning and she was starting to shut down.

By now a small crowd had formed near the mess hall, consisting mainly of parents who's kids had been staying in the mess hall. Most of the other villagers stayed in their homes.

Mangle let out a anguished cry as she finally slummped to the ground and felt her circuits going out. This was the end, but at least she was going out the way she had hoped. Fighting her oppression and trying to get revenge, instead of being crushed inside of some compacter like she had feared.

"It figures. I always thought it would be that damn bear or the balloon brat or my cheap replacement or the dump that would do me in. Instead a bunch of little nothings who just got lucky are the ones to do it. Just remember kiddies that no matter what happens, I'll always... be... the original. A-and the or-riginals are a-a-always b-be-e-ett-ter," Mangle uttered before the last of her circuits fizzled out and left her motionless and lifeless.

Tails clung to Sally and began sobbing into her chest after this close call. She patted his back in an attempt to comfort him, but he was shaking so violently that she was worried that this could have shocked him completely. She let go of him despite his protests so that she could get a closer look at the monster. Sonic walked from the mess hall to join her and Rotor came out to take a look as well. As they observed the downed animatronic Sally couldn't help but wonder. Did this thing really feel pain? If it did, then it's existence must have been a miserable one given how twisted it's metal frame was.

"So Rot? What do you make of this?" Sonic asked.

As Rotor observed it at farther range and up close he said, "Definetly an AI, but pretty crude. I'd like to know who programmed it."

"AI?" questioned Sonic.

Sally rolled her eyes and said, "Artificial intelligance Sonic. It means it was smart but by the hands of whoever created it and not by itself."

"Think it was Buttnik who sent it?" Sonic asked.

Rotor shook his head and said, "Very unlikely. His AI's are far more advanced than this thing here. This thing looks like it was pieced together by an amateur and then sent through a shredder."

"It had one of those energy signals that Nicole has been tracking. I don't think anyone sent it. It just ended up here by mistake and saw us as an opportunity," Sally said.

Rotor shrugged and said, "That's the best explanation for it then. AI misplaced in either space or time."

Sonic nodded in agreement and said, "That's three down and how many was it again Sal?"

"Nine to go Sonic," Sally answered for him.

Sonic got back to his feet and said, "They got too close this time. We're not safe period if they can get that close without us knowing it."

And for one of the few times in their lives, Sally was in full agreement with Sonic.

**Mangle is dead. Kinda saddens me to kill off my favorite enemy, but nevertheless it's done. Now they just have nine more creatures to go. Let's see who's next.**

**Over four thousand words. This is not only the longest chapter in the story. It's the longest chapter I've ever written period. Just wow.**

**Next chapter someone returns with another warning/threat. We'll see how it goes next time.**

**If you have any thoughts on this chapter or any suggestions for future chapters, please be sure to comment. See you all next time.**


	6. Proposition

**Glad to see that more people are enjoying this. Thanks again for the comments and likes. Other than that there's nothing more to say, so enjoy this next chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any Sonic characters**

A couple of hours had passed since the incident with the animatronic, Mangle and things had pretty much calmed down for the most part. After deciding that the kids would be much better off at home, Sally had each parent take their kids back to their huts. She had hoped that if they kept the kids in one location with constant supervision, that they'd be safe instead of being scattered about and easier to grab. But after seeing how easily one of their enemies had gotten into the mess hall so silently, she realized that it had been a mistake. She apologized to each child and their parents saying that she had only intended to keep everyone secure. The parents didn't blame her cause her intentions were good and they understood that no one could have seen the thing with Mangle coming at all.

Currently she was lying in bed in her hut. She wasn't sleeping though and hadn't for most of the night. How could she? After all that had happened that night, how could anyone sleep? She felt shifting beside her and looked to see that Tails was tossing in his sleep. After what had happened, he refused to be by himself and Sally couldn't blame him. The boy had come dangerously close to death that evening and the look on his face as he slept showed that he was not having a peaceful sleep. She wrapped an arm around him and held him close to her, hoping that it would give him some comfort. Sadly it didn't, but he wasn't grumbling as much in his sleep now as he'd been a while earlier.

She looked up at her clock to see the time. It wasn't even three in the morning yet. The night felt like it had been dragging on and on. She had worked overnight missions in the past and they had never felt this long. Eventually she could feel thirst coming to her and she reluctantly let go of Tails and got out of bed. She went over to the sink she had in her place and grabbed a cup. She filled it and took a drink. Afterward she stood at the window for a minute or two, just staring out at the village.

Even if she knew where to find the rest of those energy signals, she had no idea what they were up against or what each being was capable of. She knew that they couldn't keep waiting for these things to come to them and that they would have to start hunting these things down. It was the only thing that could be done to keep the rest of the village safe. But even then she began to wonder that if they go hunt them, would that just lure them to the village more quickly. Mangle had certainly been intelligent enough to sneak in and move silently. If one had been intelligent enough to master stealth, they could all be intelligent enough to know to wait until the strongest fighters were gone to search for the rest of the entities.

She had no idea what to do. Or even how to address this issue to the rest of the village.

"It seems you have quite the dillema on your hands don't you?" said a frightening familiar voice.

She froze as she recalled hearing that voice before. The threatening voice from the forest. She turned around to see exactly what she had feared. Harvester stood in one of the corners of the room. The one right by the bed. And he stood right beside Tails. He loomed over the boy and was staring down at him, smoothing out some of the hair on the top of Tails' head.

Sally sneered and said, "Don't touch him."

Harvester waved her off and said, "I'm not going to hurt him if that's what you're getting at. Not right now anyway."

He walked to nearby chair and took a seat upon it even though it was meant more for a Mobian instead of an Overlander, if he was even an Overlander at all. Surprisingly the chair didn't break or even groan from his weight. He even leaned back in it without it straining. He crossed his legs and stared straight at Sally.

"So shall we get down to business then?" he asked.

Sally's sneer remained on her face and said, "How did you even get in here?"

Harvester chuckled darkly and gave her an answer saying, "Folks like me have our secrets. Didn't even need to come in through the door or the windows. I can let you fill in the blanks and decide for yourself."

Sally chose not to dwell on his getting in and decided to listen to what he had to say.

"Okay fine. Why are you here?" she asked.

Not moving from his spot, Harvester cleared his throat and said, "I saw everything that went down with that machine. I have to admit, the way you thought off of your feet with that plug was rather impressive. If I were the others I'd be shaking at this point. Good thing I'm not them."

"How did you even find-" she started asking but was cut off.

Harvester stopped her and said, "I found your village through my own means. Be it stalking or simple intelligence. Either way the method is not important. Just that I found it and I actually like this tranquil setting. Feels rustic and down home."

Sally crossed her arms and said, "And what is your point? I'm not in the mood for games."

"Why that's just unfair now. Here I was just calmly congratulating you for a job well done and you turn all sour on me. For shame little lady. For shame," he said in mock offense and wagged a finger in the process.

She started giving him a glare that told her she was deadly serious. It caused Harvester to end his little game for the evening.

"Alright alright fine I was just having a little fun. I'll tell you what you want to know. I've discovered two more of the energy sources you've been searching for and they're not too dangerous so long as you remain off of the ground. I'd recommend sticking to the air for this one and you can use your little computer friend to find them if you don't believe me," Harvester said irritably.

Sally lowered her glare and said, "That's all? That'll be easy."

She figured that they could stick to any high ground in an event like this. It was one thing they practiced a lot.

"But I do want something in return after all the information that I've given you," he continued.

She looked back to him with a slightly shocked expression.

"I just want a little place right outside of the village to call home. Set up my own little homestead. I'm a long way away from where I came from and could use a place to stay. What do you say? Give me a little bit of property?" he offered her.

Sally was taken aback. This monster had taunted her and attacked both her and Tails. Then he broke into her house and taunted her some more. And now he wanted to live near them? Why would he want to do that? No way was she going to agree to this.

"Absolutely not. Why would I agree to terms like that after you tried to kill us?" she answered angrily.

Harvester let out a sigh and stood up from his chair. He walked a little bit around the room, but was getting close to Tails once more. What was he planning? And she was telling herself that he better not place a hand on the boy.

"You know there's a reason for my name. If there is something I want, then I get it. But if some people refuse to give it to me, I make other arrangements. So I take what I can to get my way. I "harvest" something from my enemies," he said as he approached Tails and began patting the boys head.

Before she could tell him to get away, Tails stirred and woke up. Harvester smiled behind his mask and placed one hand behind Tails' head and the other over the boy's eyes. Before Tails could even gasp in surprise, Harvester's hands took on a blue glow and Tails let out a few groans before Harvester released his hold on the boy. Tails fell back onto the bed with his eyes tightly shut and his hands going up to them and covering them.

Sally ignored Harvester completely and went straight to Tails and wrapped an arm around him.

"Tails? Are you okay? What did he do to you?" she asked frantically.

Tails removed his hands and opened his eyes. But instead of looking directly at Sally, he had his hands waving out in front of him. Almost as if he was trying to find something in front of him.

"Aunt Sally? Where are you? I can't see anything," Tails said as he continued trying to feel his way around.

Sally figured it was too dark for him to see anything. She grabbed a lamp she had next to the bed and turned it on, bathing the room in light.

"Better honey?" she asked.

Tails had heard the sound of the lamp being turned on, but he kept trying to feel around. Something was definetly wrong here.

"Aunt Sally where are you? Everything is black, I can't see anything at all," he said and she could hear he was about ready to start heaving.

A good sign that he was about to start crying.

She turned his head in her direction and then she could see what was wrong. His eyes were completely glazed over, with the corneas not showing any reflections of light. Harvester had blinded Tails.

She glared at Harvester once more and said, "What did you do to him?"

Harvester laughed and held up a ball of blue light which he quickly placed into a burlap sack that he pulled out of one of his coat pockets and then tied the bag off.

After returning the bag to his pocket he chuckled and said, "Just took his sight until you honor our deal. If you want him to see again you will give me what I want. You have twenty seconds to agree or you will have to take it from me. Then again only I have the power to return his sight to him. The choice is yours. The clock is ticking starting now."

Sally was stuck between a rock and a hard place. If she agreed to the deal, Tails could see again but then that monster would be free to roam near the village. At the same time she knew that if Tails lost his sight and she gave up a chance to fix the problem, then she would have failed at protecting him. And that had happened too much recently. Everything was too frustrating.

"Tick tock tick tock. What is your answer?" Harvester asked sinisterly.

Sally took a breath and said, "Okay fine. But only a small portion and you stay away from the village. I never want to see you in the middle of the town. Night or we have an understanding?"

Harvester let out a loud spree of laughs and said, "You don't have to worry about that. I mainly stick by myself anyway. Now as I said before a promise is a promise."

He removed the burlap sack from his coat pocket once more and took out the blue ball and returned to Tails' side. He told Tails to hold still and placed the ball of light back over Tails' eyes. After a few seconds, Harvester removed his hands and told him to blink a few times. Tails did so and looked down at his hands.

"I... I can see again. I can see," he said excidetly.

Sally sighed in relief and turned her attention back to the taller man in the room.

"Now I see we have an understanding. The creatures I told you about are a few miles to the south in the middle of the badlands. In one of the rockier regions. As I said, stay off of the ground and you'll have an easier time destroying them," he said and walked to the wall.

He then took the time to point a finger at the lamp beside the bed and made it break apart with a loud crashing sound. The noise startled them and made Sally and Tails turn to the lamp and scream. As they turned back to where Harvester had been a moment before, they saw that he was now gone. No trace of him remained in the room, but his voice could still be heard around them.

"Remember our arrangement your highness. Because if you go back on it, I'll do worse than take his sight next time. I promise you that and a promise is a promise," he said and laughed and laughed until his voice finally faded out.

Sally could only sit there in stunned silence as she tried to process what had just happened to them. She knew that what she had just done was likely a mistake, but she had let her personal feelings do that. She wasn't about to let Tails suffer for her unwillingness to comply. Before long, Tails was breathing softly, indicating that he had fallen asleep again. That put her in better ease as now she didn't have to worry about him losing any more sleep. She took the time to get up from her bed and try to clean up the shattered lamp.

As he slept though, Tails' face turned from fearful to joyous. It wasn't that he was dreaming, but that he could hear a voice talking in his head. And it was not telling him pleasant things.

"Finally I have a proxy now. Listen to me here child, you belong to me now. You will carry on your daily routines as usually do and not alert anyone to your behavior. Don't need any unwanted attention. The next time I talk to you, you will do exactly as I say. Do so and you will be greatly rewarded. Understood?" Harvester's voice asked.

Tails opened one of his eyes a little and it displayed an eerie red glow which soon went back his normal blue eyes.

When Sally was out of ear shot, Tails smiled and said, "Yes master."

**I know short chapter, but that's because I have a longer one planned for next time. **

**So Harvester wants a place to stay and now he's done something to Tails' mind. We shall see in time what it is exactly he has planned.**

**In the meantime if ya'll liked the chapter or have any ideas for future chapters, feel free to comment.**


	7. Worms

**Not much to say except that this next chapter will be longer than the last. Other than that thanks for the continued support and I will continue this story as much as I can. Please enjoy.**

**Note: Once again I suck at writing a French accent so whenever Antoine speaks, just imagine a French accent being used. Best I can do.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic SatAm. If I did there would have been a season three.**

The next morning came with no new incidents during the night. Sally had finally been able to get a little bit of sleep after Harvester's visit, even if it was for just a couple of hours. She and the rest of the freedom fighters had breakfast and then immediately afterwards, she called a meeting with the others in the meeting hall like they normally do when they had a mission or a discussion. Sally filled them in with what had happened during the night with her and Harvester. She didn't leave out any details including the deal she made.

"He tried to hurt Tails? And he wants to live near us?" Sonic asked with worry and anger evident in his voice.

Especially the anger. Anger towards Harvester's approach to Sally and the way he had treated Tails. May the Goddess help Harvester if Sonic ever got his hands on him.

Sally nodded in confirmation and said, "Sadly yes. I don't even know what else he wants or what else he's up to, but I doubt that he gave me everything that I needed to know. He may be making further deals in the future or other demands."

Sonic and the others all shook their heads in annoyance and disappointment. But they understood why Sally would make the deal, considering the circumstances.

"You sure that everything he told you was for real Sally? He easily could have been tricking you," Rotor asked.

"Yes. I looked over a map of the badlands on Nicole and there are indeed two more energy signals out there. And they're the closest I can find on there as well so I'm making them top priority. As soon as Dulcy gets back from her assignment, we'll be taking off with her to check them out," Sally answered.

Dulcy was a dragon friend of theirs. She had searched for them and joined up after she had lost her entire family to Robotnik's advanced robotization units and she was easily their strongest member. That had sent her out nearly a week earlier to assist some freedom fighters that were operating outside of the Great Forest with one of Robotnik's many other operations. Sally didn't know all the details except that they had requested some help against a toxic dumping site at what was once a lake. She was due back any time now as she had sent word that she'd be back sometime that day.

"So um, who shall be accompanying you on this mission Princess?" Antoine asked hopping that it wouldn't be him.

Antoine was a coward through and through. At times he had tried to be brave in hopes of impressing Princess Sally. But overall no matter what he tried, he just couldn't bring himself to be courageous.

"So far just me, Sonic, and Dulcy. If anyone else wants to come along they can, but we need someone here to keep an eye on the village. It's not just those things in the badlands I'm worried about, but the others that are out there as well. If any of them have the same amount of intelligence as that robot last night, they might be lying in wait for us to split up," Sally answered Antoine.

Antoine sighed in relief, but then he realized the other part that Sally mentioned about the rest of the entities. This made him shiver some more and made him more paranoid. So paranoid that when Tails came up behind him, he reacted as everyone would expect.

"Hey guys," Tails said as he appeared behind the chair that Antoine was sitting in.

"AHHH!" Antoine screamed and practically flew out of his chair and nearly clinged to the ceiling.

He calmed down once he realized that it was just Tails that had frightened him. Everyone else in the room did their best to keep themselves from laughing at Antoine's reactions. But he could see what they were doing and still scowled anyway.

Tails looked back to the others and said, "Hey guys. Dulcy's almost back. I just came in to tell you."

Sally sighed in relief and said, "Thank you Tails. We'll be out in a minute."

Tails gave her a nod and quickly ran back out. Bunnie however had noticed that Tails seemed really cheerful all of a sudden. After being nearly killed and stricken blind last night, he should at the very least be showing some sign of fear. But he didn't. Then again Tails was one to move on from an event that would traumatize most children. Made him more mature than most of the kids in Knothole that way. But he had never moved on this quickly before even after the time he and Antoine were nearly roboticized by Sonic's uncle. Usually it takes a couple of days or at worst a week.

"I think I should go with you guys. I have some experimental weapons that could use some field testing and the badlands is the perfect place to do it," Rotor spoke up.

Sally nodded and said, "Good idea Rotor. Maybe these things will be vulnerable to what you have to test."

Rotor nodded back and said, "Oh I'm sure of it."

Sally mentally thanked Rotor and asked, "Now are there any questions before we adjourn this meeting?"

No one raised their hands or spoke up. Afterwards Sally nodded and everyone got up from their seats and walked out to see Dulcy coming in rather fast. Nothing out of the usual.

"LOOK OUT BELOW!" Dulcy called out from above.

Dulcy was a dragon alright, but unfortunately she was not a very good flyer. She practiced a lot and was very determined, something Sally could admire greatly. But while takeoff was not a problem, Dulcy did have some issues with actually landing. No matter how much she practiced, she ended up crashing half the time. One time she had plowed right through Sonic and Sally's huts and completely brought them down. Sally and Tails had stayed with Bunnie, but Sonic spent one night at Antoine's place as a result before he began rebuilding it. Antoine still had nightmares of that day.

Dulcy was already a little too close to the ground as she tried pulling up. Everyone on the ground scattered so that she could have more room for a landing be it a good landing or a bad one. Unfortunately this time, it was a bad one. She tripped and skidded on the ground for a moment before the dirt from the ground slowed her down and brought her to a stop.

Everyone rushed over before Sonic asked, "You okay Dulcy?"

Dulcy raised her head and gripped it with one claw saying, "I made it in time ma."

"Yep. She's fine," Sonic said with a little laugh.

Sally smiled and said, "Dulcy? How'd it go out there?"

Dulcy shook her head to clear her daze and said, "Went well out there. We managed to destroy Robotnik's waste trucks and dismantled every bot there. The site has been blocked off and clean up will begin soon. If Robotnik sends anymore trucks, they won't be able to get through. No one was lost in the mission either."

Sally was glad. Not only had the mission been a success but they hadn't lost a single freedom fighter either. She just wished that all of their missions went this well. Be it a successful one or unsuccessful.

"That's good news Dulcy. Also I hate to do this, but we have another mission and we'll need you for it. I wouldn't do this unless it was urgent. We need to go to the badlands," she said.

Dulcy was a little annoyed that she had to go on another mission after just finishing one. But she knew Sally well and if Sally said it was urgent, then they really had important things to get done.

Dulcy sighed and said, "Okay. What kind of mission?"

"Search and destroy," Sonic answered for Sally.

Sally mentally thanked Sonic and added, "And me, Sonic, and Rotor are going with you."

Now Dulcy knew it had to be important if it was something they needed to get rid of. She wiped off her exhaustion and prepared herself. She was at least glad she wouldn't be flying solo on this one. Rotor left for his hut to gather what he needed as everyone readied a saddle on Dulcy. Rotor returned and placed some items in one of Dulcy's saddle bags. Sally climbed onto the saddle on Dulcy's back and Rotor joined her. Sonic readied himself on the ground as they prepared to head out.

"Now don't you worry about things here Sally. Me and Tails can keep an eye on things here. Especially Antoine," Bunnie said and both she and Tails began laughing at more of Antoine's misfortune.

Antoine frowned and said, "Oh ha ha. Very funny."

Sonic laughed and he took off running, leaving the wind blowing and Dulcy took off with Sally and Rotor. Within moments they were out of sight and on their way towards the badlands.

Tails made his way from Bunnie and said, "I'm gonna go find someone to play with. See ya guys."

He ran off as Bunnie looked on. Tails mostly played games by himself, seeing as most of the other kids didn't really like many of the games that Tails did. He mostly played dirt hockey and he was getting pretty good at it. With Sally and Sonic away, responsibility of Tails fell to her and she decided that she would need to keep an eye on him. She may have been a little paranoid, but she still felt something was a little off. She hoped that she was wrong.

In the meantime Sally and the others made their way towards the energy signals in the badlands. She had Nicole out and she was examining the signals on the small computer. There certainly were some entities in the badlands and they were moving around in circles it looked like.

The badlands were a desert like wasteland on Mobius. It had once been a nice place and had been as beautiful as the rest of Mobius itself had once been. But it's decline started over a decade ago, before Robotnik came to power. During an event known as the Great War, it had been the site of several battles and many lives had been taken in the process. The blood of many Mobians and Overlanders stained the land and Robotnik's toxic pollution had ensured it's complete and final destruction. It was pretty depressing to be honest. Even if the land could be fixed, it wouldn't be in their lifetimes. Or even in their grand-children's lifetimes. If there was even a future like that ahead of them.

"So Rotor, what weapons did you bring with us?" Sally asked as the wind whipped at them.

Rotor raised his voice and said, "I brought a sonic sound weapon that I made. It'll disorient any non mechanical enemies and it can jam mechanical ones for a short time. I figured the badlands would be the perfect place to test it since it's a more open location and less populated."

Sally had to admit, that was a good plan that Rotor had. Before too long, they were in the badlands and they spotted Sonic standing on top of one of the large rocks that dotted the badlands surface. As they began their approach and Sally held her breath as they came in for a landing. Thankfully, Dulcy's landing here was a lot smoother here than it had been back in the village. Sally and Rotor dismounted from Dulcy and Sonic approached them.

"Took you guys long enough. Know how many seconds I've been waiting on you guys?" he joked.

Sally rolled her eyes and continued examining Nicole. They signals were close, very close. But as they looked out at the land around them, they could not see anything out of the ordinary. Maybe these things were behind another rock formation. But as her eyes went back to her handheld computer, Sally noticed that the signals were moving once more. Both were moving together and they were moving rather quickly. Almost as if they were chasing something.

Then in the distance they could hear someone screaming, "Help!"

They turned their heads and looked out in one direction of the badlands just in time to see someone was running out in the open. It was a Mobian wolf with dark brown fur and she was running as fast as her legs would carry her. As she ran however, she threw off her backpack and she started running faster. Not missing a beat, Sonic rushed off from the rock they were standing on and went for her.

"SONIC WAIT! WE NEED TO STAY ON THE ROCK!" Sally called at the top of her lungs.

But Sonic didn't listen to her. Someone was in trouble and they needed to help her. In moments Sonic reached her and scooped her up into his arms. He stopped and was about to ask her if she was okay, but she began panicking again.

"NO! DON'T STOP! KEEP GOING!" she yelled out.

Sonic was about to ask why, but then he could feel a rumbling coming from under the ground as he looked behind him. Sure enough, two sections of the ground were swelled up and both were making it's way towards the duo. Not wasting a second, Sonic gunned it and was able to turn around and make his way back to where Sally, Rotor, and Dulcy were observing.

They climbed up the rocks as quickly as they could with the wolf girl climbing up first and Sonic bringing up the rear. He had just barely made it up, when the ground finally broke apart and something emerged from under it. A large worm like monster reared up and slammed against the rock. It's void shaped mouth opened up revealing rows of jagged teeth and it's partially spiked tongue was moving towards Sonic's foot. The creature had no eyes, indicating that it lived completely underground.

Sonic pulled himself to the top of the rock as the tongue of the other creature poked up through the ground and began rubbing against the rock. Within moments, both monsters withdrew and went back underground. But they stayed around as they began circling around the rock formation. The wolf girl that Sonic had saved was in complete hysterics as she sobbed on the ground next to Dulcy.

Sonic placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "Hey hey it's okay now. Your safe, they can't get up here."

She shook her head and said, "No it's not! They ate my brother and our friends. Just attacked our camp and pulled them under the damn ground. I'm the only one who got away. What are they?"

Sonic stood in stunned silence s she spoke to him. The worst that had happened to them in Knothole was that Mr. Scroggins wife had been bitten on the hand by one of the monsters. But now someone had died by these things. Not one but several individuals were not only dead, but eaten as well. That made his blood boil. Now he was more determined than ever to beat these things and end their evil reign. He was about to run back out, when Rotor stopped him in his tracks.

"Wait Sonic. You can't just go back out there. We need to lure them out before we can fight them. And I have a plan for it," Rotor said.

He went back to Dulcy's saddle bag and got out what he had stored in there earlier. It looked very similar to a bullhorn with a small white box attached to the front of it and to the back of it.

"Here we go. This bullhorn should do the trick. I attached some amplifiers to it, so that it'll be louder than normal. If they live underground, this should bring them some serious pain. Maybe even destroy them. Just need a name for it," Rotor said as he held his new toy.

Sonic got an idea of what Rotor was saying, but couldn't quite understand the whole sound and destroying them thing. Sure loud noises did hurt, but how loud could it possibly be?

"So what's the plan?" Sally asked Rotor.

The three of them got into a circle and Rotor said, "Okay so we need to lure these things out of the ground. Sound will not penetrate the dirt so we need them exposed in the open."

Sonic sighed and said, "So you want me to lure them out?"

"Well you are the fastest," Sally said.

Rotor nodded and said, "Not to mention that your running could be too loud for them to handle and could draw them out of the ground. I'd recommend starting slow and only blasting into full when they get close. When they come out of the ground, I'll use my new weapon on them and try to put them down."

This time Sonic understood what Rotor was talking about. They looked back at the wolf girl who was still huddled down next to Dulcy. Sally knew that they had to get her away from here. Seeing the things that killed her friends would likely drive her mad. Or even worse, she jeapordize their plan.

Sally went back over to Dulcy and said, "Dulcy do you think you can fly her back to Knothole? She's too terrified to remain out here and we can't risk her getting in the way."

Dulcy agreed and Sally tried to help the poor girl up.

"Come on. We're getting you out of here now," she said to the wolf girl.

The girl was hesitant at first, but eventually she stood up from her spot and was helped onto Dulcy's back whom the girl started clinging too instantly.

"Dulcy here is going to take you someplace safe. You just stay there until we get back. And then we can talk. Does that sound okay to you?" Sally asked her.

The girl nodded and Dulcy took off, with the promise that she would be right back. They all watched as Dulcy flew off with this poor girl still clinging to her back. As soon as Dulcy and the girl were out of harms way, they returned their focus to the task at hand.

"Okay Sonic be careful out there. We don't know how fast those worms can move, so just keep moving. Try to get them out of the ground and we'll take care of the rest," Rotor instructed.

Sonic laughed and said, "Yeah yeah Rotor I got it. It's me and I rarely tire down. I'll get them out even if I have to dig them out."

"And I believe he's serious about that," Sally said to Rotor as Sonic laughed at his own statement.

Sonic finished his boasting and took off. As he did, the worms picked up the sound of his running and they began moving towards him. He moved slower than he normally ran so that they could catch up to him. It was perfect. All he need to do was let them get closer and then he could dash into his top speed and cause a sound louder than they could possibly handle. It took a few moments but eventually they were within a few feet of him and they could see the worms getting ready to surge out of the ground. It was here that Sonic kicked it into high gear and began running into his top speed which resulted in loud BOOM.

Both creatures surged out of the grounds with loud roars and fell to the ground, stunned for the moment. Sonic moved away from the monsters and let Rotor do his thing. He put plugs into his ears, aimed his bullhorn device at the beasts and used it. Sally covered her ears just to be safe as the sonic wave moved towards the beasts. It reached one of them, causing it shriek in pure agony. It didn't take long for the worm to fall to the ground and slump down. A second blast from the device was too much for it's brain to handle as the top of it's head popped and the rest of it's body slid back into the ground, dead.

"One down," Sally cheered as the other creature was able to recover and it slid back under the ground.

Sonic had made it another rock across the way and watched what Rotor had done. Now all he had to do was repeat the process, but for the time being the other creature had gone underground and was moving in a completely different direction. Likely escaping from Rotor's weapon. But it must have gone deep, because there were no tell tale signs of it anywhere. No gliding bump on the surface and no rumbling.

Sally looked back at Nicole and could see that the signal was still nearby. The exact position couldn't be found though, likely caused by some interference from Rotor and his weapon. What Sally didn't notice though was that as she examined the landscape, she leaned over the edge of the rock they stood on. As a result, she fell straight forward and down the rock as a surge of dirt shot out of the ground and caused her to tumble down as it hit her face. She landed right at the edge of the rock face and right near the dirt. As she started pulling herself up, the remaining monster's tongue came out of the ground and started moving towards her. She shrieked and began trying to climb back up the rock. But her surprise and panic kept her from getting a firm hold on the rocks. As the tongue moved closer, she'd kick it away. But it would quickly recover and start moving again.

Sonic saw this happening and decided to act. He jumped from his rock and began running towards Sally. Rotor saw this too and he climbed down as well to help her out. But as Sally kept kicking, the monster started getting more agitated. Sally had finally managed to get some distance between her and the monster's tongue until it finally got her boot. It wrapped around her foot and began pulling her back. It squeezed her boot so tightly that she was unable to pull her foot out. Moreover, the spikes on the monster's tongue had hooked the boot, making escape almost impossible. It began dragging her back down the rocks and towards the dirt. As she got closer, the creature pulled it's head out of the ground and opened it's mouth. Sally gulped as she gazed down the monster's gullet, ready to devour her. Rotor reached Sally and tried swiping at the monster's tongue. He had intended to use his new weapon, but in close proximity to Sally like this, it could harm her as well.

Finally Sonic was just yards away and saw just how bad it had gotten. Sally was only a few feet from the monster's gaping mouth and despite her and Rotor's best efforts, she couldn't get loose or get away from it. He remembered what he had done earlier and as he passed by, he went into his Sonic speed once more and blasted right by. The creature detected the louder noise and shrieked in pain once more. It released it's hold on Sally and Rotor acted quickly. Thinking fast, he pointed his weapon right at the monster's mouth and activated it once more. The creature howled as it's insides ruptured one by one and it sank back into the ground like the one before it. Never to rise again.

As soon as the monster was down, Sally got Nicole back out and started checking once more. But just like the first time, there was more interference. As they waited, Sonic returned and saw how hard Sally was breathing.

"You okay Sal? It was a little close back there," Sonic asked.

Sally held up her hand and said, "Thanks for asking, but I'm fine Sonic. Scared me more then it hurt me."

Rotor sat stunned as well, not saying a thing and barley blinking. That thing must have shaken him up as well. But worse yet, his weapon started smoking. Guess it wasn't ready to be used yet. Sonic didn't say anything else and sat with them in silence as they waited for Dulcy to return. It didn't take long for her to come back and gathered up Rotor and Sally. Sally had checked and confirmed that their signals were fading as well meaning that the threat was gone.

Dulcy looked at them and asked, "So how'd it go while I was gone?"

Sally took a breath and said, "Well at first, but there were some unforeseen events and we had to improvise."

That was all that Dulcy needed to hear to know that things went downhill. He was at the very least grateful that her friends weren't hurt. She spread her wings and took off with Sonic trailing behind on the ground.

Back in Knothole, the residents had gathered the poor wolf girl after Dulcy had dropped her off and placed in one of the beds in the infirmary. She had been given a sedative to calm her down and she had fallen asleep as a result. Some time passed and someone slid into the infirmary and approached the sleeping woman. He stood over her and watched as she tossed and turned in her sleep. After a while the sedative wore off and she stirred and looked straight up at the figure. The only thing she saw was the skull mask before he covered her eyes and her mouth with both hands. She struggled and tried to scream against the person holding her, but he held her tightly.

"Don't worry little lady. When you wake up this'll seem like all a dream. Except that you work for me now. All you need to do is wait for my instructions," he said and her struggles stopped.

From under his hands, there came an ominous red glow and she whispered, "Yes my master."

**Well that was intense and now it looks like you know who is back for more. Next chapter we will learn who this new girl is and what role she'll play in the future.**

**And I should also mention that the movie Tremors did give me inspiration for this chapter as the badlands are a desert region and giant worms are perfect for a desert setting. I just gave the worms a different description, only the hunting habits remain the same as many subterranean creatures hunt by sound. I also do not own the movie Tremors.**

**If anyone has any comments, advice, or ideas feel free to voice up. I still need two monster ideas before I'm set to finalize the story. So any ideas would be much appreciated.**


	8. Meeting the New Girl

**Well folks I got vacation coming up in about a month from now (First week of March) so I'm going to try to get as much of this story done as I can before I leave. Until then, thanks for the continued support and enjoy the next chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic or the Sonic characters. If I did, they would have been in at least one game by now.**

It didn't take long for Sally and the others to return to Knothole. During the flight, Sally explained to Dulcy all that had happened as they had fought and killed the worm creatures. Dulcy had to admit, that she too would have been terrified had she been looking down the throat of a carnivorous beast attempting to eat her.

As soon as they landed, with no problems from Dulcy, residents eagerly went to them to find out how the mission had gone down. Despite the anxiety that she still felt, Sally was more than happy to announce that their targets had been destroyed and that they had saved one of their would be victims. But she did also tell them that some lives had been lost when they couldn't save everyone. And just as she had expected, the residents heard these words and each pittied the poor folks who's lives had been taken.

Speaking of which Sally asked around to see how the girl that Sonic had rescued was doing. According to one of the residents, she was still out. But another had stated that the young woman had been talking to someone inside the infirmary. Only for a moment or two though before she was asleep again. Sally decided that she should go check in on her anyway just to be sure.

Sonic wasn't back yet, so that allowed Sally some time before he returned and then she could debrief the others. Along the way though, she ran into Tails who for some odd reason found himself staring at a beetle just crawling along the ground. This confused Sally. Tails rarely did something as uninteresting or mundane as watching a bug skittering along. Moreover she didn't see him greet her, Rotor, and Dulcy when they arrived back in Knothole. Usually Tails would be one of the first to greet them, usually with a hug for her or anticipating a playful noogie from Sonic. But she hadn't seen him anywhere in the welcome group at all.

What was wrong here? She walked over to him and set a hand on one of his shoulders. Tails jolted a little and turned his head to see Sally.

Tails smiled and said, "Hey Aunt Sally. When did you get back?"

Sally forced a small smile to hide her concern and said, "Hey Tails. We just now got back. What are you doing here now?"

He pointed back at the beetle and said, "Just watching this bug."

"Why?" Sally asked.

Tails didn't answer and instead went back to focusing on the beetle. Sally didn't want to push the issue, but she'd be keeping this in mind. She turned away and started towards the infirmary once more.

But she turned back to Tails and said, "Hey Tails. When Sonic returns can you come tell me?"

Tails nodded and continued what he had been doing. Sally looked on for a few more seconds and walked back towards the infirmary. As Tails continued looking at the bug, there came a sharp pain in his ear and his eyes went red. Then he began hearing a familiar voice speaking to him.

"What are you doing boy? I told you not to draw attention to yourself. Now she's on to you," said the voice of his master.

Tails sweatdropped a little and said, "I-I'm sorry. I was just-"

He didn't finish as the voice interrupted and said, "Don't make any excuses kid. I should have seen this effect coming. It's not your fault though, it's mine for not completely understanding who I would be using. Alright just walk away from the bug and be more careful from now on."

Tails stammered and said, "Y-yes sir. Sorry sir."

Tails left the spot that he had been standing at and left the bug alone as his eyes went back to normal. The beetle itself crawled over to a nearby tree and as it skittered by, a large foot came down on it and squished and killed it. Harvester himself poked his head out and observed from his safe point and watched as Tails went back out into the open village.

"Teaches me to rely soley on a child for my plans. At least I got the girl too," he said and walked away, fading into the nearby treeline.

Sally in the meantime entered the infirmary and found that the girl still asleep. She was just about to walk out and check back later, but the girl began stirring and started sitting up in her bed. Sally turned back to her and walked on over to her.

"Hey? How are you feeling?" Sally asked.

The girl flinched and turned her head to Sally in alarm. However when she saw who it was, she calmed down and took a few breaths.

"Oh. I'm feeling much better now. I wish I could be fully honest about that right now though," she said and lied her head back down on the pillow and frowned.

Sally saw how she was feeling and said, "If this is a bad time I can come back later."

The girl shook her head and said, "No no I'm fine. I guess I just need someone to talk to."

"Can I get you anything to help? Maybe some tea?" Sally offered.

The girl shook her head again and said, "No I'm fine. Can't really stand the stuff anyway."

Sally nodded and came over and sat down on the bed as the girl moved herself into a sitting position.

"So tell me what happened to you out there? What were you doing out in the badlands anyway?" Sally asked.

The girl looked at her and asked, "You're freedom fighters aren't you?"

Sally nodded and the girl let out a laugh.

"Figured that's who I would end up with. We were always traveling around. Me, my older brother, and our friends always moved from place to place. We never stayed in one place for too long. We found it safer that way," said the girl.

"And you thought the badlands would be a safe place to hide?" Sally asked.

The girl shook her head and said, "No. No place is safe, only some places are safer than others. But we thought it would be safer than stuck in one place for years and years. I've grown so accustomed to it, I can't keep myself cooped up."

The girl fidgeted for a sec and said, "Maybe I will have a drink. Water is fine though."

Sally nodded and went to get a cup of water for the girl. Easier then anything cause there was a sink here in the infirmary. She filled a cup up and brought it back to the girl who drank it gratefully.

She set the empty cup down on the floor and said, "Thanks. My name is Roxanne by the way. But most people call me Roxy."

Sally smiled knowing that they were getting some where and said, "Mine is Sally. Welcome to Knothole Roxy."

The two exchanged friendly greetings and shook hands.

"So what happened out there anyway?" Sally asked.

Roxy took a breathed and said, "We were traveling across the badlands, because we'd heard that there were some safer places to travel on the other side. We made sure that we had a sufficient amount of supplies before we crossed. We knew we would be traveling for a few days and you know how those badlands are."

Sally let out a laugh herself and said, "Yeah they are pretty unforgivable."

"We'd been out there for about two days and two more would be the end of it. But we had decided that today would be our rest day. We had just finished breakfast and we were just lounging around when the ground began rumbling," she said and she suddenly began shivering.

Tears began to form in her eyes. Sally was about to tell her that she could stop, when Roxy started again.

"We were curious about what was causing it. We thought that maybe it was nearby geyser or something. That's when they appeared. Those horrible monsters with the spiky tongues. They started grabbing everyone. One by one they were pulled under the ground and into the mouths of those things. Soon me and Angelo, my brother, were the only ones left. We ran as fast as our legs would allow us. He was running a little ahead of me, but then I tripped and fell. He ran back and helped me back to my feet. That's when they grabbed him. I tried to help I really did, but he told me to keep going. I didn't want to, but I did. I started running and I didn't stop until you guys found me," she continued her story and then covered her eyes with her hands.

From the way her body was shaking, Sally could tell the girl was crying.

Sally placed a comforting hand on Roxy's shoulder and said, "If it makes you feel better, we stopped those things. They can't hurt anyone anymore."

The girl calmed down some and wiped the tears from her eyes. It was then that Tails, entered the infirmary and approached the two women.

"Hey Aunt Sally, Sonic's back and he wants to talk to you about something," Tails said.

Sally nodded and said, "Thanks Tails. Tell Sonic I'll be there in a minute."

Tails laughed and ran back out.

Roxy smiled and said, "Cute kid. Reminds me of some kids I've seen in the villages we've been to. I do have a question though."

Sally looked back at Roxanne asked, "What's that?"

"You're a chipmunk and he's a fox and he called you his aunt. Are the two of you really-" she asked but was quickly interrupted.

"I've been asked this before and let me stop you right there. Me and Tails actually are not related by blood. We found him abandoned as a baby in the forest and we really have no idea where his family is or if they're even alive. I'm sort of the one that mainly takes care of him, but ever since he was a baby we've all had a hand in raising him," Sally explained.

Roxy laughed a little more and said, "Children raising children. It's just what my brother did for me. I mean no offense when I say that."

"None taken," Sally said and she got up from the bed.

"If it's alright, can I leave this hut? I can't stand being cooped up inside," Roxy asked and Sally approved.

Together they walked out and shortly after, they found Sonic standing near the meeting hall. Munching on a chili dog just as Sally was expecting. He had finished eating as soon as Sally made her way over to him. She did not want to have to converse with Sonic if he was eating something messily. By the time she and him were face to face, he was still licking his fingers.

"Oh hey Sal. Don't mind me, I'm just eating," he said.

Sally grimaced and said, "I can see that Sonic. Now Tails said there was something you needed to tell me. What do you need?"

Sonic let out a small belch from the chili dog and said, "So get this. I'm jamming my way back to Knothole when I encounter Uncle Chuck's little messenger. The note it gave me says that he needs to see us and that he thinks that old Buttnik has found something. Something big he says."

"Are you certain about this Sonic?" Sally asked and Sonic nodded.

"Yeah. He wants us to come by tonight when it's safe. He doesn't know how long Robotnik will wait and that even tonight might be stretching it. Read it for yourself," Sonic said and handed her the paper scrap message that his Uncle Chuck had sent.

Sally read it and read it again to make sure it was authentic.

After a minute or two she put the paper away and said, "Okay we'll head out there tonight. It figures that Robotnik would pull another stunt like this while all of this other stuff is going on"

All of a sudden, Roxy heard a ringing in her ears and she could swear that someone was speaking words to her. She squinted her eyes, just as they turned color. It was telling her something and before she knew it, she knew exactly what the voice was saying. Her eyes reverted to normal as she reopened them.

"Is it okay if I come along? I just can't stay put here. It makes me feel too uneasy," Roxy requested.

Sally gave her a look and said, "Do you really want to go? Where we'll be going takes us to the very edge of Robotropolis itself and it'll be incredibly dangerous."

But Sonic was less willing.

"You gotta be kidding me Sal. We just saved this girl from getting killed and now she want's to risk getting captured. What makes you say she's willing or able to fight at all?" Sonic asked.

But Roxanne was not ready to back down.

"I can fight well enough. I spent most of my life out there in the wilderness and I can think off of my feet. Trust me, I'm not some helpless little lady despite what happened earlier. Believe me, I can help with whatever," Roxanne argued.

Sonic was about to argue, but believed he should at least give her the benefit of the doubt.

"Alright I won't fight it. Let's just get out there and get it done once it gets dark," Sonic said in admitted defeat.

Sally nodded and said, "Sounds like a plan."

Roxy was happy to know that they would give her a chance. What the rest didn't realize however is that the voice that was talking to her, had other plans in mind.

**Short chapter and a little boring, but the next one will be longer and more exciting. So now they have to return to Robotropolis and now something is up with this Roxanne girl. We shall see where this goes.**

**Thank you for reading and if you have anything that can help this story, feel free to comment.**


	9. Robotropolis

**Thanks for the comments and continued support folks. It helps me continue writing this story. So please continue to enjoy and I shall continue.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any Sonic characters**

The day continued on and eventually the sun began to set in the west. After they had had a little supper, Sally, Sonic, and Roxy all gathered some items that they would need for the little mission into Robotropolis nd carried them in their backpacks, Roxy's having been recovered by Sonic and them. Sally left Rotor in charge and soon they left the safety of the village for the hostility of the city.

After the group had left, Antoine was assigned to be the lookout once more. He complained a little but he eventually relented and started for the lookout tower. But once he was out of ear shot of the others, he began his complaints again to himself.

**(Imagine a French accent once more)**

"Every other night I get sent to be the lookout and no one ever asks me how I feel about it. Maybe I have other things that I need or want to do. But no it's up to the tower I go," Antoine complained as he began climbing up the tower.

But then he sighed and said, "Still better than going into the city and risking capture."

As he reached the top and sat down on a chair that they had placed up there, he felt that he wasn't alone. He was about to question whether he was or not, but then he heard a voice speaking to him.

"Sounds like you are unappreciated around here. Like they don't understand you or what you feel and go through," said the voice.

Antoine sighed and said, "Don't you know it? Even when I make those fantastic meals for them. When they try to make it themselves, they always get it wrong. I can't stand it."

The voice laughed and said, "Sounds like you could use a new direction in life. I can help you with that."

This time Antoine let out a laugh and said, "Oh really? And how do you intend to do that?"

"Lean your head back and I'll show you," said the voice.

Antoine decided to humor whoever was speaking with him and leaned his head back. But then he saw the skull mask looming above him. Before he could sit back up, the person wearing it reached a hand for Antoine's eyes and covered them tightly. Antoine let out a scream just as the red glow eminated from under the beings hand.

Bunnie was patroling nearby, but when she heard Antoine's scream, she turned in his direction and ran for the lookout tower. She quickly climbed up the tower and threw open the trapdoor that lead to the lookout post. But as she looked in, Antoine was sitting by himself and looking out over the forest once more. Nothing seemed to be wrong or out of place at all.

"Antoine are you okay? I heard you screaming," Bunnie asked.

Antoine didn't turn around but he did say, "I'm fine. Just saw a spider."

That sounded like something that Antoine would scream over. For a moment Bunnie had been worried that something bad had happened to him.

"Well if that's all then. If you need anything just let me or anyone else kn-" Bunnie said but was then cut off as two large arms wrapped around her and one hand covered her eyes and another covered her mouth.

All Bunnie could do at the time was scream in surprise. Unfortunatly she screamed into the being's hand as the red glow shined right through the cracks between the person's fingers.

In the meantime, Sonic and company were still venturing towards Robotropolis. He normally would be running towards the city, but given current circumstances he didn't dare leave the two of them unprotected. He knew Sally could hold her own against any foe, but he wasn't sure about the new girl. Truth be told he didn't even trust her all that much. But he was willing to give her a chance, but he was watching her closely though. You can never be too safe.

After some time, they reached the outskirts of Robotropolis which was where they normally met up with Uncle Chuck. All they had to do now was look for his signal. They didn't have to wait long as they saw a light flashing nearby. That had to be Uncle Chuck's signal. They quickly made their way towards him and he emerged from behind a pile of broken concrete and metal.

"Sonic! Sally! I'm glad you two could make it," he said.

"Wouldn't miss it for anything Uncle Chuck," Sonic said and hugged his roboticized uncle.

Chuck smiled at Sonic's enthusiasm and then his eyes landed on Roxy and he said, "Oh I'm sorry miss. And you are?"

"Roxanne. My name is Roxanne," she answered.

Chuck chuckled and said, "Nice to meet you ma'am. I'm Charles, but feel free to call me Uncle Chuck."

Roxy smiled and said, "Thank you sir. And you can call me Roxy."

Chuck nodded in approval and said, "Now that that is settled, follow me everyone and we can talk inside."

They all followed Chuck to his hideout, which was a hollowed out pile of debris. They approached it and Chuck opened up the hidden door, to Roxy's amazement, and they all entered the hidden location. As soon they entered, Roxy looked in amazement. Chuck had monitors and computer equipment and everything that was needed to make them work in here. He was keeping a close eye on everything that Robotnik did and said. Almost like he was some kind of spy or something, but then again he probably was.

Before Roxy could do or say anything, Sally started asking what was needed?

"So Uncle Chuck you called us here for something. What do you need?" Sally asked.

Chuck moved their attention towards some monitors that overlooked Robotnik's labs, or to be more accurate, it focused on Robotnik's oversized roboticizor. Inside there was something that they hadn't seen before. Inside was a serpentine creature with pale green scales covering it's body. It had a head in the shape of a chameleon head, only with multiple eyes upon it, a lot like that of a spider. It had a mouth on each side of it's head and from the way the mouths were salivating, it was craving food. And given the amount of sharp teeth in each mouth, they doubted that it would eat any plants.

"What is that thing?" Roxy asked, recoiling in horror at the sight of the thing.

Chuck shrugged and said, "I don't know. Robotnik's SWATbots found it while patrolling the city. It managed to destroy many of them before they were able to subdue and capture it. What's worse is that it's not the only one he got."

He turned their attention towards another monitor and saw what Uncle Chuck was talking about. Inside another glass containment unit, they saw a spider like creature. It had eight spindly legs and a bloated body of an abdomen the size of a small vehicle. It's head had multiple eyes and the part that actually made some of them feel sick is that it's body was covered in brown fur. The only areas where there was no fur were the legs, the head, and the spinnerets. It snapped it's fangs together as it too craved a meal.

"This one he found in the sewer system. Apparently it was easier to catch after they flushed the system," Chuck filled in.

Sally pulled Nicole out and saw exactly as she thought. After scanning Robotnik's labs on her map, there were a couple more energy signals in his labs. These two creatures were some more of what they were looking for. The good news is that Robotnik had taken care of the hard stuff and caught them for the freedom fighters. The bad news however was that if he roboticized them, these things could become more dangerous than they are now. They had to act right away or their situation would get worse in a heartbeat.

"We've got to get in there and destroy them," Sally said.

"We don't even know where they came from. How do you intend to do that?" Roxy asked.

Sally shrugged and said, "I'm not sure yet. Maybe we can find something in the labs to use. But we need to keep Robotnik away from them."

Sonic laughed and said, "Leave that to me Sal. It's what I'm best at."

Sonic was about to rush out, but was stopped by Chuck.

"Hold on there sonny boy. I have a better idea. I can set off a number of alerts throughout the city from here and he'll have to focus on them. I have some explosives and detonators in the next room and we can use them on those monsters. The problem however is that they'll need to be away from the roboticizers. We're going to need them intact if we plan to deroboticize anybody in the future. We'll only have a few minutes to take of these things before Robotnik realizes that the alarms are a distraction," Chuck said to them.

Sally approved of the idea and said, "Sounds like a good idea. But we'll need to get the explosives onto the monsters somehow."

"We'll figure something out," Roxy added.

Sonic groaned and said, "Guess we'll have to."

In the meantime in his lab, Robotnik stared at the giant reptilian that stared at him with owl like eyes in a spider like pattern. It used it's sharp claws to scratch at the glass in a vain attempt at escape. It growled and continued to drool wanting to munch on the fat creature in front of him. The thing was definetly hungry, even after trying to munch on a number of SWATbots. If it had teeth that could easily chew on metal, imagine what it could do once he unleashed it on the great forest. The freedom fighters would never know what hit them.

"Snively, is the roboticizer ready yet?" Robotnik asked his nephew who stood at a nearby console.

Snively grumbled and said, "Almost ready sir. Charge is at ninety-three percent."

He expected a nasty response from his uncle and braced himself for the worst. For once however, Robotnik wasn't feeling impatient and instead he was rather excited.

"Very well then. If things go according to plan, this shall be one of my finest achievements. Great things come to those who wait," Robotnik said with a sinister grin on his face.

The charge continued to increase, but at about ninety-seven percent, there came the last thing that Robotnik wanted to hear right now. The alarms began to blare, but immediatly following it was the blaring of another alarm and it was quickly followed by a third and then a fourth and a fifth.

"No. Not right now. Snively, what is going on?" Robotnik seethed with rage clear in his voice.

Snively turned his attention to a separate screen and said, "Several alarms throughout the city have gone off Sir. It looks like we may have multiple intruders."

Robotnik growled and in his fury he said, "It better not be those cursed freedom fighters. If it is, then I'll gladly let this thing loose to tear them to pieces. The robotization can wait. I'll go tend to this problem personally. Snively keep an eye on our new friend here until I get back. If I tell you to, start the procedure."

Robotnik prepared to leave but before he did, he looked at the monster and said, "You just sit here. I'll be back soon enough."

The monster only roared in response to which Robotnik didn't even flinch.

As soon as Robotnik was out, a vent quietly opened up above Snively and a rope lowered down to just a few feet above the small overlander. Because he kept his focus on the creature in the large roboticizer, he didn't see what was going on above him. Sally slid down the rope first and jumped on top of Snively, quietly incompasitating him in the process and knocking him out. Sonic and Roxy slid down after Sally had secured the room. They all looked at the monster and part of them wanted to pity it, but it was a danger to them and it needed to be destroyed.

Sally slid off her backpack and pulled out the explosives that Uncle Chuck had given her and quickly armed them.

"Okay here's the plan. Sonic you are going to distract it while Roxy get's it out of the roboticizer. I'll try climbing onto it and plant the explosives in it's mouths. After that, get it away from the roboticizer. We have only one shot at this and we have to take it. Above all, make sure it doesn't damage anything. Got it?" Sally explained.

Both Roxy and Sonic nodded in agreement. Sally informed Roxy on how she can open up the roboticizer machine and Sonic stood in front of the glass with the beast staring straight at him. It's mouths snapping in excitement as drool continued falling from it's maws. Sally jumped back up to the rope and waited for Roxy to open up the machine.

Roxy stood at the computer consul and moved a cursor onscreen over to the "open" icon. Snively groaned on the ground as he began to stir. Roxy simply knocked him on the head and knocked him back out right as she clicked the icon. But Snively's stirring had drawn the attention of the monster and as soon as the glass casing of the roboticizer was open, the beast was staring straight at Roxy and charged right for her.

"Oh crap!" Roxy cried and avoided the lizard's claw, moving an unconcious Snively as well.

Evil scientist or not, he didn't deserve to be squashed. She threw herself and him behind the consul as the monster swiped at the consul itself, breaking part of it away. The noise and action stirred Snively awake.

"Wha? What? What is going on here?" he asked while still groggy.

Then he saw Roxy kneeling right next to him and he couldn't help but sneer in disgust.

"What is a Mobian doing in here?" he demanded.

And then he heard the roaring and saw the monster's claw reaching around the corner of the consul system, grabbing right for the two of them. He shrieked and backed away from the claw as much as the wall would allow him.

"We could use a little help over here," Roxy called out.

Sally used her body weight to swing herself and the rope forward several times. The one good thing about this unforeseen change is that it distracted the monster and kept it in one spot long enough. She was able to swing from the rope and she landed right on the creatures back. She hunkered down and started crawling on the creatures back. But it felt her land and it could feel her crawling along it's back. It turned it's attention away from Roxy and Snively and started trying to buck Sally off of it's back. Sally herself was hanging on tightly as the monster thrashed around in an attempt to get her off.

"Hang on tight Sal. I'm on this," Sonic said and then tucked down and did a spin dash along the ground.

He spun forward and slammed right into the side of the monster's head, narrowly avoiding the teeth of one of the monster's mouths. The beast slid to the side and hit it's head against a wall. It's vision blurred and it shook it's head to fix the problem and as soon as as the pain was gone, it turned it's head and saw Sonic.

"Hey monster. You like fast food? Well you're looking as the fastest food around. Catch me if you can," Sonic said and took a spin dash out a large nearby door.

The beast looked back at Roxy and Snively and turned away from them. At least with the fast one, it had a chance to hunt instead of taking on some weak and jittering prey. It chased after Sonic out the door and went after the speedy meat. As soon as the beast was gone, Roxy turned her attention back to Snively and slammed him against a wall and pinned him to it.

Snively grunted and said, "Just wait until the Doctor gets back. You freedom fighters will pay for you insolence."

But it was here that Roxy's eyes turned red and Snively's little rant ended and he looked back at Roxy in fear. Roxy reached into the backpack that Sally had given her and pulled some rope out.

The voice in her head started again and said, "Detain this little nothing. I have plans for him."

She quickly tied up Snively and gagged him before she stuffed him into a nearby vent. As soon as she had dealt with Snively, she turned back to the roboticizer with her eyes still glowing.

The voice laughed lightly and said, "A roboticizer to create slaves? Talk about a weak form of oppression."

Back with the monster, Sally was crawling along the monster's back once again and was getting closer to the monster's head. She knew what Sonic was doing and that he was also giving her time to get her role done. It didn't take long for her to get to the monster's head and managed to get some explosives into the monsters left mouth. As soon as she was done and ready to move to the next, the monster was alerted to her presence again and thrusted it's head forward and managed to throw her off of it.

Sonic saw this and was able to dash for her caught her in his arms before she hit the ground.

"You okay Sal?" Sonic asked.

Sally sighed in relief and said, "I am. Thanks Sonic."

The monster shook it's head side to side in an effort to dislodge the device that Sally had jammed into it's mouth. But no matter what it did, it just couldn't get the device loose. It looked back at the two and it's eyes were practically glowing with rage at this point.

Sonic gulped and said, "Any ideas Sally?"

Sally thought for a moment and thought back to where they. But then she got an idea and whispered it to Sonic.

"Okay I have a plan. Get it outside and I'll talk you through the rest," she said to him.

Sonic nodded and turned towards one hall and dashed right down it. As they went however, the alarms that had been blaring throughout the city suddenly stopped, indicating that the time for distraction was over. They had to hurry before Robotnik discovered their locations.

"Double time," Sonic said and moved faster than he had been going before.

The creature saw this and kept after them, tearing up the hall and walls as it went. It didn't take long for Sonic and Sally to reach the outdoors which overlooked a pile of debris consisting of glass, concrete and rebar.

Sally got out of Sonic's arms, pointed to a nearby ledge and said, "Okay stand at the edge of the ledge there and let the thing jump or charge for you. I'm sure you know what to do next."

Sonic nodded and did exactly as Sally had instructed while she hid behind a corner and waited. It only took a few moments before the lizard thing came through the doors and spotted Sonic.

"Okay big guy. Come and get it," Sonic said taunting the beast.

The monster growled, licked the chops of the unblocked mouth and jumped right for Sonic. What happened next is that Sonic dashed right for the side and let the monster miss and fall towards the ground. It tumbled down the mountain debris and screeched as it continued rolling down and eventually came to an abrupt stop with a sickening squelch as it impaled itself on some large pieces of broken rebar. Sonic couldn't help but gag at the sound of the squelch followed by the monster's pained roar.

Sally came out from her corner and watched the monster writhe with Sonic right by her, but it was still dangerous to approach as it continued thrashing it's claws around. She hoped that one half of the explosives would be enough. She disarmed the other explosive she had armed for this thing and placed it back in her backpack. She took out her detonator and flipped the switch on it, resulting in an explosion big enough to take out half of the beast's head, causing a green goop to splatter all over the ground and pour out of the monsters head. It thrashed some more and then it slumped down and soon it stopped twitching.

"That was a lot less satisfying than I thought it would be," Sonic stated.

Sally nodded and said, "I actually felt bad for it at the end there. But at least it's out of it's misery now and it's one less concern for us."

As soon as the beast was down, they heard a clattering behind them and turned around to see what it was. Roxy was standing behind them with a look of exhaustion on her face.

"Hey guys. You guys can certainly move can't you? It was rough catching up with you," she said.

Sally and Sonic laughed and apologized to her.

"Now if we move quickly, we can get the other one before Robotnik realizes that we're here," Sally said, but then Roxy sweat dropped and began rubbing her arm nervously.

"Yeah about that. You see I followed the directions that Uncle Chuck gave us and when I got there, the case was empty. It may have been moved or let out. I don't know and I don't have any idea how we can find it," Roxy explained.

Sonic groaned and said, "Well we have to do some-"

He didn't finish as they soon saw hovercraft flying towards them, indicating that Robotnik was aware of their presence. They didn't have any time to reflect as they quickly made good their exit out of Robotropolis.

What Roxy hadn't told them is that she knew what had become of said monster.

Before meeting up with Sonic and Sally, she had gone straight to where Uncle Chuck had told her and the spider was still in it's casing. As soon as it saw her, it began glaring at her and snapping it's mandibles together. Roxy stared straight back at it and the voice in her head laughed at it.

"These things passed through with me? These weaklings couldn't intimidate a child," said the voice and instructed what to do next.

She went to a nearby electrical panel and pulled on some rubber gloves to protect herself from an electric shock. She reached in pulled on of the electric cables out and returned to the casing. She pressed a button on a switch in front of the casing and allowed it to open. The creature tried to reach for her, but instead Roxy jammed the cable into the spider's mouth and allowed the energy to surge through the beast. Before long it slumped to the ground fully paralyzed and waited as it's strength tried to return. Instead however, Roxy brought the casing back down rather forcefully and removed the creature's head from the rest of it's body and rendered the abdomen and legs useless.

She picked up the still living head and threw it into a vent that rolled downward.

She patted the dust from her hands and the voice said, "Good. Now that should cause some confusion and distraction. And then the real plan can take place."

"Leaving none the wiser," Roxy finished and both her and the voice began to laugh.

**Well that was... slick don't you think? Another one bites the dust, but more of Knothole is in danger now. What will happen next and what does Harvester have planned for the future. We shall know... in the future.**

**Any questions or concerns, feel free to comment and thank you for reading.**


	10. No Safe Haven

**Not much to say. Just glad that the last chapter was liked, even if it did get a little brutal. This chapter will be different though. Please enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any Sonic characters**

"Please. No no!" screamed the voice of Mrs. Scroggins as the hands covered her eyes as well.

After the red glow died down, she stopped pleading and instead was more calm and sound. Harvester backed away and let his new servant stand back up and walk away. He moved on down the line as a couple of villagers held down another resident who were among several who were literally awaiting enslavement by Harvester's hands.

During the whole time that Sally and Sonic were away, Harvester had managed to enslave Bunnie and with her help, he had even managed to get a hold of Dulcy as well. With the two of them taken down, it had allowed him to easily enslave the rest of the village. By now he had enslaved each of the Freedom Fighters and most of the residents, including the children. All he was waiting on now was finishing up the line of residents he had and then wait for Sonic and Sally to return. But he had enough patience to wait on them. After all, even without them he could still take on his ultimate goal. He had his eyes set on a much bigger prize than some dinky little village in the middle of the forest.

He had to give Sally credit for a couple of things. The location was isolated and buried deep within the forest making detection almost impossible. This combined with the incompetence of the evil doctor made it no wonder that Robotnik could never find this location. It was far too perfect for Harvester to ignore. He also had to admit that Sally had been right in another department. He'd been waiting for the right moment for the village to be vulnerable to make his move against them. He had gotten lucky with Bunnie and she had had her guard down before he made his move and turned her into another slave. Dulcy had been a risk though. He had gotten Antoine and Bunnie within minutes of each other and he had been feeling bold.

With Tails as a distraction, he'd been able to ambush Dulcy from up in the trees. Even when she had tried to pry him off of her head with her claws or tried to throw him off, he'd barely been able to get her. But after he did the rest of the village fell like they were nothing.

The Freedom Fighters would make perfect servants seeing as they had been able to not only oppose Robotnik, but also fight and hide from him for most of their lives. With their skills he could achieve what he wanted. Only three things were still in the way. Sonic and Sally and then Robotnik himself.

Some time passed and the hour was growing late. Harvester had taken this time to hide in the shadows and had allowed the residents to carry on with their lives to appear normal. At least until the two remaining Freedom Fighters returned. Looking through Roxy's eyes, he knew that they were getting close and would be back shortly. He'd make them feel at home first, let them go to sleep. And then he could execute the rest of his plot.

It wasn't long before the trio arrived back in Knothole with Harvester still remaining in the shadows. As soon as they returned, the residents gathered around them to get information on how their mission went. Sally of course told them that they had managed to kill another entity, but that one had gotten away. Surprisingly though, the residents took it well. Sally figured that it was because either way, they had one less worry on their minds now.

"Well I guess now there's just the debriefing to go," Sally said, but Sonic shook his head.

"It's late Sally and I need some rest. Can't we debrief in the morning?" Sonic said with a yawn.

Sally was going to argue it with Sonic, but she then felt fatigue run through her body as well and decided that Sonic had a point. After all she had been going for most of the day after only having a couple of hours of sleep herself.

"Fine Sonic. We'll do it your way," she said and then yawned herself.

They said their good nights to each other and went their separate ways. Sally walked right into her hut, changed into her nightgown, and of course checked in on Tails to see if he was in bed. He was. With a sigh and another yawn, she climbed into her own bed and drifted off to sleep. Across the way, Sonic drifted off as well.

Outside as he waited, Harvester came from out of the shadows and sent a message to Roxy, telling her to come to him. Roxy left her temporary lodgings and went straight to him. As she approached him, she kneeled down before him.

"Yes master? What do you need?" she asked him.

He stood over her and said, "You did well out there tonight. That dying beast will provide an excellent distraction for Robotnik while I make my plans. And you hid the short one too?"

Roxy nodded and said, "Yes my master."

Harvester grinned behind his mask and said, "Good. You may actually have a place of power in my new order once I establish it."

"But sir, what of the princess?" asked Roxy.

Harvester rubbed his chin and said, "I actually haven't decided on her future yet. We'll see what happens in the future. But for now though, I'll just wait for her to fall into a deep sleep and then I'll enslave her and then the hedgehog too. With her brains and his speed, the rest will be a cakewalk."

He then began to laugh. He laughed so loud that he roused Sonic from sleep. Sonic groaned, went over to the window and was about to tell whoever it was to keep it down, but then he saw who was standing out there. He saw Harvester and Roxy and Roxy's eyes were glowing red. Glowing red? What was going on and what was Harvester doing here? Harvester knew that he didn't belong here. So why would he risk coming into the village at all? It was then that he saw several other villagers were roaming about and their eyes were glowing as well. Even Antoine of all people was wandering as well and his eyes glowed fiercely.

"Oh no. Not you too Ant," Sonic said and refocused on Harvester and Roxy.

"So how long do you think it'll be before you can get her?" Roxy asked.

"We'll wait a few more minutes Roxy. And then I'll send in the boy to check on her. If she's in deep slumber, I'll make my move. And then we'll check on the hedgehog. If he's not in deep slumber, I'll just send the others in to hold him down. He won't be able to move from that," Harvester said and then he began looking around.

As he turned in Sonic's direction, Sonic ducked down from his position to cover himself. He didn't dare to look back out again. Instead he began thinking about what Harvster had been saying. Send in the boy? Oh no, he must have gotten Tails as well. From the number of people he had seen out there, he may have gotten the whole village by now. And now he was going to use his friends against him and Sally. He couldn't hurt them and Sonic figured that Harvester would try to force his hand.

He had to get to Sally, but he had to stay quiet and would have to get there before Harvester could. He waited at the door to his hut and looked out to see if anyone was there. Thankfully there was no one in sight. He crept out and could see a couple of folks down the way some, but they had their backs towards him. So he dashed across the road and hid behind another hut. He crept around it and as he crouched beneath one of the windows, he heard the shutters open and looked up to see someone peering out with the same red glowing eyes. Thankfully they didn't look down at him and after a moment or two, they pulled back in and closed the shutters.

Sonic surpressed a sigh of relief and continued on. He moved on from hut to hut and did his best to keep out of sight. In a matter of minutes he was able to reach Sally's place and looked in on her. She was still asleep and there were no signs that anyone had gotten to her yet. But just as he was about to move, the door to Tails' room opened and Tails walked out with his eyes glowing. He approached Sally and looked right at her. She was breathing softly as she slept, indicating that she was now in deep sleep.

Tails mumbled something to himself and then he said, "The princess is sleeping well sir."

He paused for a moment before saying, "Yes sir. I'll wait right here for you."

Sonic didn't need to hear the other side of the conversation to know who Tails was talking to. He had no choice, he had to get in there now and put a stop to this. He climbed in through the window and charged right for Tails. Tails didn't get a chance to react as Sonic quickly had him pinned down and knocked a few other things to the ground at the same time. The noise of this roused Sally from sleep and she awoke with a start. She looked to the side to see Sonic holding Tails to the ground and Tails struggling to get out from under him with his eyes clenched shut.

"Sonic? Tails? What are the two of you doing?" she asked.

Tails opened his eyes which looked normal again and he said, "I was getting up to get a drink when Sonic attacked me."

"Liar. You were watching Sally and you told someone," Sonic accused him.

He hated doing this to anyone and throwing around accusations, especially towards his little buddy. But he knew that Tails was not himself right now and knew that he wasn't responsible. Still though it didn't change the fact that Tails was a threat to them right now.

Sally didn't know what to think. These two had never been like this before. Sure they had wrestled each other for fun in the past (usually with Sonic winning), but they never acted like this with each other before. What was going on? It wasn't long however when Sally got her answer.

Before she could break them up, the door to her hut flew open with a bang and in stepped the being she had grown to hate the past day or two. Harvester stepped inside while frowning behind his mask.

"It seems that someone has been interfering with my plans. How disappointing," he said as he stepped towards Sally.

Sally jumped from her bed and kneeled into a fighting position in front of him.

"What are you doing here? I told you to never come back here," she said.

Harvester began laughing and said, "You mean to tell me that you were actually serious about that? You should have figured by now that I listen to no one but myself. And now I have many friends to assist me in my endeavors."

Sally shuddered and asked, "And who are you referring to?"

Just as Sally asked this, Tails was able to place both of his feet onto Sonic's stomach and with a quick thrust he pushed Sonic off of him and sent him across the room and knocking him out against a wall. Tails stood up from his spot and looked at Sally as his eyes began to glow once again. Sally couldn't help but stare in horror as Tails began to grin.

"Oh no. Tails, what did he do to you?" Sally asked with fear and concern in her voice.

Harvester laughed and said, "He's my slave now. Most of the village is now as well. And soon you will be too. Now hold still and submit to me."

He reached out to grab her, but Sally dodged and grabbed a book that was sitting on her nightstand. She threw it towards Harvester and got him square in the face with a loud smack. Really it startled him more than it hurt him and it did shift his mask around leaving a small portion of his face revealed. Sally could see it and could swear that she could see some bone there. She turned to get Sonic but instead she found Tails who leaped onto her and tried pushing her back down. This made Sally scream a little as she struggled against him. She tried to pry his hands off of her, but couldn't get him off. She tried to find some other way to get him off, but in the end she realized she had no other choice.

She clenched her eyes and with some tears sliding out, she freed one hand and knocked Tails on the side of the head. His grip loosened and with a second strike he was out cold and lied on the floor.

Sally gasped and said, "Please forgive me Tails. I didn't want to hurt you."

Back with Harvester, he straightened out his mask and said, "A maternal figure attacking her child for her own survival. Always brings joy to my heart to see someone hurt the ones they love."

She turned back and he started to reach for her again. Sally turned to Sonic and started delivering light smacks to his face to wake him up.

"Sonic come on. We need to get out of here. We can't let him win," Sally said while shaking Sonic frantically.

Sonic groaned and said, "Sally you need to run."

"What?" Sally questioned in shock.

Sonic groaned again and said, "I can take care of myself. You need to get out of here. If he gets you even without me, we lose. Please Sally. The best thing you can do for me right now is getting out of here."

Sally was about to do as he suggested especially with Harvester practically standing over her at this point and reaching for her. Sally wasn't about to leave Sonic behind.

"Sonic remember you're worst case scenerio? This is the right time for it," she said.

Sonic listened to her and thought it over. He figured that she was right. He still felt weak after being thrown across the room, but he had enough strength to pull this off. He agreed with her, but he still told her to run in case it didn't work like they thought it might. Reluctantly, Sally turned back to Harvester and gave him a hard roundhouse kick to his chest and sent him stumbling a little bit and it allowed her a little bit of time to run away and jump out of her window.

Harvester growled and turned back to Sonic.

"It's only a matter of time before the two of you fall to me. Better now than later. Don't you agree?" Harvester asked and began reaching for Sonic's eyes.

"Before you make me mindless, you want to know what I think?" Sonic asked.

Harvester pulled his hand back a little and said, "Curiosity gets the better of me. So tell me what you think."

Sonic smiled and said, "I think you live in a world of your own delusions."

And with that, he curled into a ball and launched himself right into Harvester's stomach and slammed him hard against the wall of Sally's hut and caused part of it to come down. Sonic tumbled down on top of Harvester and looked around to see that most of the residents of Knothole were now out and about. And every one of them had the glowing eyes and were slowly gathering around him.

"Sonic! Over here!" he heard Sally calling out to him.

He looked and he could see Sally up near the cliffs with the elevator ready. She was no longer wearing her nightgown and was back in her blue vest. She must have grabbed it before she got out. Sonic could see what he was up against and he refused to hurt the other residents no matter what the circumstances. He quickly dashed past them and was able to reach Sally really quickly. They looked back in the village as the residents started coming for them. Almost like they were zombies. They turned around and got into the elevator pulley system and were able to get themselves out of the village quickly enough. As soon as they were out, Sonic lifted her off the ground and he dashed with her as quickly as his feet would allow. Their destination unknown.

Back with Harvester, he lifted himself off of the ground and brushed himself off. He looked down, only to see his mask on the ground and that it had been torn up in the attack, rendering it useless. He tossed the remains aside and looked back in the direction that the two had run off in.

"Nevermind. This operation will just take a little longer than I expected," he said.

Roxy came over with a burlap sack which he gratefully took.

"Run run little moths. You can't escape my grasp," Harvester said with a snarl.

**Well then, Knothole has fallen to Harvester and he has a new goal set. Now Sonic and Sally are on their own and still have to bring Harvester down.**

**Be sure to read and review please.**


	11. Hunted

**Still don't have anything new to say. Only got a couple of weeks to go till vacation time. Until then please enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any Sonic characters**

Hours passed and it felt like an eternity. Sure enough, once the sun began to peek over the horizon both Sonic and Sally had felt a great sense of relief hit them. They had spent the rest of the night hidden away in a hollowed out pit under a tree. The roots had kept them hidden from view as Harvester's minions, their friends, had searched the forest for them. Once dawn had arrived, they pulled out and returned to Knothole. With the forest clear of the hunters, they still had to worry about where they were going to go. They couldn't return home and they knew that Harvester himself was still out there somewhere. Just waiting for his chance to enslave them.

They had slept in shifts through the night. Sally would sleep for a few hours while Sonic sat watch and then Sally would keep watch while Sonic got some rest himself. They did this all the while they were hiding from sight. They were relieved once the light of day came and they could see better.

Once both of them were awake Sonic turned to Sally and asked, "Any idea where we can go Sal? We can't go back to Knothole and any other Freedom Fighters are too far out to get to without being seen by the others."

Sally groaned and said, "That's a good question Sonic. The only one I can think of is Uncle Chuck. But it's very likely Robotnik has stepped up his patrols after what we did yesterday."

Sonic shrugged and said, "After everything that happened in Knothole we might not have a choice."

Sonic groaned and added, "This is so messed up."

They waited a little while more for it to light up a little more before the two of them dared to venture out. The day itself looked like any other day in the forest. What little life lived out in the Great Forest were certainly lively today. The birds and the bugs were out and about. The birds sang and the bugs buzzed as they went by just like any other day. It seemed so serene and normal. But they remained aware of what they were leaving behind them. A village full of friends that they needed to save from an evil man. One that may even be worse than Robotnik himself despite them wanting to consider otherwise.

They marched on back towards Robotropolis. How ironic that the place they always attacked and where one of their biggest enemies lived was now becoming their sanctuary from Harvester. All that they to worry about there though was staying out of sight from Robotnik and his forces, a task easier said than done.

As they went however they became aware of a flapping sound in the sky. One that sounded awfully familiar. They looked up and they saw their friend Dulcy flying up in the sky above them. They were about to wave her down, but then they recalled just how overrun the village was last night and realized that Dulcy might be against them now as well. Deciding to play it safe, they started to climb up one of the nearby trees and hid from sight. As they hid among the branches, they could hear Dulcy flying around above.

They waited for her to leave but before long, Nicole started making some buzzing noises and Sally had to pull her out.

Sally observed Nicole and said, "Did you find something Nicole?"

Nicole buzzed a little bit and said, "Affirmative Sally. I have detected another energy signal in the area. In close proximity to your location."

Sonic placed a hand to his forehead, growled and said, "Not now. Why did one of those things have to appear when we have company?"

Sally shushed him and said, "We can deal with it later Sonic. For now let's just try to remain out of sight."

Sonic's stomach growled and Sally said, "And keep your stomach down. It'll attract attention to us."

Sonic shushed his stomach, but then their nerves began to run high as they heard what they dreaded. Dulcy was descending towards the ground and was circling right above them. They climbed higher into the thicker branches and watched as Dulcy landed on the ground in front of the tree. Riding on her back was the one that they hated the most.

Harvester climbed off of Dulcy's back and stood up straight, his jacket billowing in the light wind that was blowing. The difference this time is that he no longer wore a goofy looking skull mask and this time he was wearing a burlap sack that completely covered his head. Almost like one of the scarecrows that the farmers put out in their fields. He reached into one of Dulcy's saddlebags and pulled out a hatchet, must have been one of Mr Scroggins tools. Harvester stood and peered around, at one point he even looked at the tree that Sonic and Sally sat in. He looked up into the branches and the two of them ducked behind them as best they could. They could take on Harvester with no problems, but Dulcy was another matter. She was stronger and more powerful than the two of them and not to mention she was their friend. It's a fight they wouldn't be able to win due to physical and emotional problems.

Havester growled a little and then he yelled out, "What's the matter? Too scared to fight me? Are you afraid to face my power and my might? Or could it be the dragon? Too afraid to face her cause she might overwhelm ya? Or could it be because she's your friend and you don't want to harm her?"

Sonic was trying his best to not yell back at him knowing that right now he was openly taunting them. But then again that's probably what Harvester wanted. He wanted them to yell back at him, cause it would reveal their current location to him. Sonic bit down on his tongue to prevent himself from calling the guy out.

'Curse you Harvester,' Sonic said in his head.

Down below, Harvester began to laugh and said, "That's it isn't it? You care about your friend too much that you can't bring yourself to harm her after harming the boy. Your emotions and personal feelings prevent you from doing so. Well let me tell you this, your emotions make you weak. It prevents you from doing what needs to be done. I gave feelings and emotions up a long long time ago. My own family found that out the hard way and I loved them. I don't care a thing for you or your petty little friends. They're just puppets to me and I will gladly do away with them if the situation calls for it. Show me your hiding location and I will spare their lives."

That made Sonic and Sally's blood run cold. Was he threatening the lives of their friends? Would he willingly kill his slaves just to drag them out of hiding? Well if the guy was willing to kill his own family then anything was possible. But then again, he had lied to Sally before and chances were that he was lying once again just to drag them out of hiding.

After a few more minutes of looking around peering into a lot of the trees around him, Harvester finally shrugged and walked back over to Dulcy.

"I guess they're not here. We'll go deeper into the forest and give it a few more looks before we head back. I want to be back in Knothole before the sun goes down," he said.

Dulcy looked at him and asked, "Were you serious about destroying some of us?"

Harvester nodded and said, "Of course I was. I'll anyone and anything to achieve my goals. That's not a problem is it?"

Dulcy shook her head and said, "Of course not. I was just about it curious is all."

Harvester laughed lightly and was just about to climb onto Dulcy when they paused as they heard a hissing sound near them. Harvester looked to one side and there stood a humanoid creature with a squid like creature for it's head. It's entire body was covered with a moist amphibian like skin that shined from the moistness and it wore no clothes. It's two bulging eyes looked at Harvester and it raised it's arms and moved slowly towards him craving a meal. The tentacles parted to reveal a beak like mouth.

Harvester merely took his hatchet back out and approached the thing. As he allowed the thing to almost grab his shoulder, he took the hatchet and swung it hard. Both Sally and Sonic had to look away before the small ax made contact. After all was said and done, Harvester stood over the slain creature as some purple goop dripped off of the hatchet.

Dulcy watched this asked, "I take you're not allied with those things?"

Harvester turned back to her and looked straight at her with an glint of anger in his eyes.

"Why would I be allied with these useless sacks of flesh? I'm the only one that actually has intelligence. I'm talking real intelligence. That robot thing that they killed was an exception, but it had an artificial intelligence. It couldn't think on it's own and was created for the purpose of using it. And look where it got her. It got her taken apart, replaced and now dead. These things are nothing to me," he said and cleaned off the hatchet.

Sally checked Nicole really quickly. Just as she suspected, the thing that Harvester had just killed was indeed one of the creatures that had popped up the past couple of days. She guessed that she should be glad that he took care of some of the dirty work, but it also troubled her that he may be the hardest one of them to defeat. There was no doubt in Sally's mind that Harvester was one of those things. Her suspicions were confirmed by the energy signal that followed him and from the things he had told her during their multiple encounters.

Harvester remounted Dulcy and said, "Let's move out. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we get back. We start our raid on Robotropolis tonight."

Dulcy nodded and said, "Yes master."

She kicked off of the ground and in no time they were back in the sky and they began flying deeper into the forest and were soon out of sight. Sonic and Sally waited until they were sure that the two were gone before climbing down from the tree. As soon as they were down, Sally cast a quick look at the fallen creature and pitied it. It wasn't bad, it was just whatever it was. Still though, one less danger in the forest. But what she couldn't get out of her head was what Harvester had mentioned. They were going to do a raid into Robotropolis tonight? And with many non combatants too? This was a bloodbath waiting to happen and she would not stand for it. They had to get to Uncle Chuck now or they risked loosing everything that they had been fighting most of their lives for.

"Come on Sonic. We need to get to Uncle Chuck before it gets dark," Sally said.

Realizing why Sally was so anxious, Sonic nodded in agreement. He picked her up and the two of them began speeding in the direction of Robotropolis.

Back in Knothole in Sally's hut, Tails stirred and began shaking his head from the pain he had endured from being knocked out. He couldn't see or hear very well for the moment, but that was to be expected if he was just waking up from troubled sleep. But as he began to sit up, he could hear a bunch of jumbled words and none of them were making any sense to him. This combined with a hurting head was making him feel really confused.

He walked over to the sink in the kitchen area and as he turned on the water, some of it splashed all over his face and caused him to shriek a little bit. He wiped the water away and all at once, the jumbled words stopped and his vision cleared up. He looked around at the empty hut and noticed nothing out of the ordinary. But something did feel off.

"Huh? Where is everybody? What happened?" he asked himself.

He looked outside to see the other residents moving rather strangely. They'd take a few steps forward, look around and then take a few more steps and then they would repeat the process. He ducked away and wondered what was going on around here. He went over to Sally's bed and sat down on it wondering what was up. But as he lied his head down, the memories came rushing back all at once. He remembered Harvester in the room, the darkness as he lost his sight, Harvester talking to him in his mind. He remembered the same strange behavior the night before.

"Everyone is being controlled," he said quietly as realization hit him.

He let out a squeak and knew that he wasn't safe there anymore. He had to get out and try to find Sonic and Sally. But where could he go? There was no telling where they went and it would be almost impossible to find them after a whole night. But he couldn't stay there. So what could he do?

He thought back to what had knocked him out of his trance like state. What had caused it? He remembered Sally being forced to knock him out and then he had splashed himself with water and then he was pulled out of it completely. Could it have been being knocked on the head or being splashed water? Or could it have been both combined?

"Tails? Are you awake yet?" came Bunnie's voice.

Tails froze as he heard her voice. Knowing full well how the other villagers were, she was likely taken over as well. He was just about to slip back into his room and sneak out his window. But as he thought about it, he realized that if he was fast enough he could fix Bunnie's mind as well. That is if his theory was correct, but he figured that now would be the best time to test that theory. Silently he crept back over to the kitchen area and grabbed a frying pan from one of the cabinets and quickly filled a cup with water.

After she knocked a couple more times, Bunnie opened the door and wandered inside.

"Hmm... he's not out on the floor anymore. He must be awake by now," she said as she noticed the empty spot on the ground.

She walked in some more and Tails could see the red glow in her eyes. He decided that now would be the right time to act. He quickly rushed behind Bunnie and smacked her across the back of the head. The impact caused her to hit the ground with a grunt and before she could shake off the pain, she looked up just in time to see Tails splash the water in her face. She coughed and began wiping the water away from her face and the red glow of her eyes vanished completely.

Bunnie coughed some more and said, "Sugar Tails why did you just do that to me?"

Tails began feeling relief fall over him and asked, "Bunnie? Are you... you?"

Bunnie wrung out her ears and said, "Course I am. Who else would I be?"

Tails smiled gratefully and wrapped his arms around Bunnie in hug which she returned in a confused manner.

"Do you remember anything before what happened just now?" he asked her.

Bunnie shrugged and said, "Well I was going to see Antoine. I remember hearing him scream and I went to check in on him. And then hands and then voices. Lots of voices saying different things. And then you splashing me."

She began puzzling the situation and said, "Something bad happened didn't it?"

Tails nodded and explained everything to her. He explained the late night meeting with Harvester and being stricken blind. He finished it with an explanation of last nights events. What little he could remember that is. After he was finished Bunnie groaned and sat down on the bed.

"I can't believe that that happened. I'm usually so careful about things like this," she said.

Tails sat down next to her and said, "It's not your fault Aunt Bunnie. You were tricked and so was Aunt Sally. We need to find her and Sonic."

Bunnie nodded in agreement and knew that they had to leave now and quickly and come back for the others later. They crept back to the hut door and made their way outside, they came across a group of three villagers who immediatley stopped them in their tracks.

"Halt. Where are the two of you off to?" asked one of the villagers.

Bunnie gulped and said, "We were supposed to patrol the outer perimeter. Keep a lookout for any intruders getting too close."

The other two pondered for a moment before shrugging.

"Alright get right back to it you two," the first one said and then the three of them left them alone.

Both Bunnie and Tails sighed in relief and made their way to the edge of the village. They got into the pulley elevator and pulled themselves up to the top of the cliff and then they made a run for it. When they were far enough away from the village, Tails twisted his twin tails together and allowed himself to fly into the air. He grabbed Bunnie by the hands and then they were off.

"But what about the others? We can't leave them behind," Tails asked her as they flew through the woods.

Bunnie looked back in the direction of the village and said, "We can't do anything for them right now. We'll have to come back for them later."

Tails sighed and realized she was right. They had to focus on their own safety if they wished to save the others.

"So where to?" Tails asked.

Bunnie looked straight ahead and said, "First things first, we find Sonic and Sally."

**That'll do for now. Bunnie and Tails are cured of what ailed them, if you know what I mean, and now they're going to look for Sonic and Sally. Will they find them before it's too late? We'll see soon enough.**

**Any comments or concerns? Feel free to ask. Or if anyone has any advice, be sure to let me know.**


	12. Return to Robotropolis

**Four words. I hate the cold. It's still better than the blistering heat though if you ask me. Makes it hard to write too. But I'll do my best here.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any Sonic characters**

It was around noon by the time Sonic and Sally had found it safe enough to get close to Robotropolis. True to what they had suspected, Robotnik had stepped up his patrols. More SWATbots were patrolling the streets than usual and more hovercrafts patrolled the skyline of the city. There were even a few roboticized Mobians patrolling about as well. Luckily they only had to get to the city outskirts where Uncle Chuck's hideout was located.

They would wait until nearby patrols were past before they would dare to move up to the next blind spot. Given the increased patrols, there were fewer blind spots than usual so they had to move quickly and silently. Though they had to duck into a shelter whenever one of the aircraft flew by due to their bio scanners. It was slow going which was agonizing for Sonic. He always preffered to move quickly and loudly instead of slowly and silently. Normally with a bunch of SWATbots out patrolling the city he still would have been a distraction for the SWATbots. But seeing as they didn't have any backup this time and there was more at stake this time around, he wasn't about to do that. No, he cared more for his friends and Knothole than his inflated ego. That's why he and Sally had to stick together this time.

It didn't help that the temperature was increasing. Today just had to decide to be a hot one. The past few days had been a comfortable temperature and had made fighting easier. But in this heat, anyone could get slowed down. But they had friends to help, so they kept their focus on their current path.

Even with their silent yet quick pace, it still took them over an hour to reach Uncle Chucks hideout. They found the hollowed out pile of debris and gave it the signature knock that Chuck had told them to use. After a moment or two it opened and Uncle Chuck poked his head out.

"Sonic? Sally? What brings the two of you out here today?" he asked.

Sally looked straight at him and said, "We have trouble Uncle Chuck."

"Mondo trouble," Sonic added.

Chuck peered around their location and told them to enter his little lab. They did so and seated themselves as he went to continue monitoring Robotnik's activities for a moment.

"Seems like you lot stirred up a hornets nest yesterday. Robotnik was furious after you guys destroyed both those monsters," he said.

Sally turned to Chuck and she said, "What? We only destroyed one of them. The other one escaped. Didn't it?"

Chuck shook his head and said, "No. The other one was destroyed, but it's probably not dead yet though. Roxy was able to take off it's head off and kicked it down a ventilation grate. Funny thing about bugs, they can lose their heads and still live for a while."

Due to this new piece of information, Sally pulled out Nicole and scanned Robotropolis for any extra energy signals. Sure enough there was still one within Robotnik's labs, but it was not as strong as it had once been. But why would Roxy do that and then lie about it? Given what they had seen in Knothole last night, Sally was running two different scenarios in her head.

Roxy must have already been working for Harvester by that time. Either that or she was looking to take revenge on these beasts after what had happened to her brother and her friends. Either way it still created a series of other questions. Why lie about it? What did Harvester have to gain to keep the thing alive a while longer? What would he have to gain from killing the other creatures as well? Could they have been a hinderence or something?

"There's more. It looks as if Snively has disappeared too. He was not in the labs after you guys were finished and he wasn't around the labs or assembly this morning. The cameras from the lab don't even show what happened in there after you guys left. The monster must have destroyed them as it escaped," Chuck stated.

This made little sense to Sally. If Roxy had been the one that had destroyed the other monster in the labs then she must have done something to Snivley as well. But what would Harvester have to gain by making him disappear? What did he have to gain by hiding him?

"Uncle Chuck? Has Snivley been involved in any other projects lately?" Sally asked.

Chuck shook his head and said, "Not that I know of. He does however have a secret computer hidden away that he thinks no one knows about. I only noticed it when he was coming out of a hidden room a few weeks ago. I guess he didn't know that we roboticized citizens still use our memories. There's no telling what's on it though."

After they had settled down for a bit, Chuck finally asked them the question that's been on his mind the entire time.

"So what brings the two of you here today anyway? It's not a social visit is it?" he asked with a chuckle.

Sonic and Sally both frowned and shook their heads. They took the time to explain to Uncle Chuck all that had transpired. Not just the events of last night, but the past several days. The sudden awakening that they had experienced, the attack on the Scroggins couple, the encounter with Harvester in the forest, the events of the meeting, Mangle, the worms, and the events in Knothole.

Here Chuck's smile vanished and turned into a frown of despair.

"Oh that's not good. I think I know what caused it too," he said.

This time it was his turn to explain the events in Robotropolis that had taken place just before the residents in Knothole had experienced their rude awakening. He explained the failed experiment that Robotnik had worked on regarding a mobile Void projector and the tear that it had caused. As well as a dozen different orbs that had escaped from it. As soon as he was finished, Sonic could feel his anger rising to a boil and bile rising in his throat.

"So Robuttnik is responsible for all of this. Those monsters, those travelers killed in the Badlands, and our friends being enslaved by that Harvester creep. He's going to pay big time for this one," he said and then kicked over the chair he had been sitting in.

Sally grabbed him by the shoulder and said, "Now Sonic it was an accident. I agree that he's still at fault here, but it's not like he intentionally sent them after us."

Sonic growled in his throat and said, "But he would have if he were given the chance."

He picked his chair back up and sat back down.

"So what's your next course of action?" Chuck asked.

Sally shrugged and said, "That's the problem. I don't know what to do next. I have no idea how to go against Harvester and his minions. We can't hurt them because they're our friends."

"Maybe if you can find a way to free them from his control it could at least keep you from hurting any of your friends," Chuck suggested.

Sally couldn't help but let out a quick laugh and said, "Good luck with that. They were always together in groups while they were hunting for us and I doubt that they would have given us a chance to find out how to break the control."

It was here than an alarm started going off and Uncle Chuck turned his attention back to the security monitors to see what was going on.

"There's a couple of intruders on the outskirts of the city," he said and started switching the monitors to find out who was here.

He switched from monitor to monitor until he found a quick glance of someone rushing down an alley. Not one person, but two actually. He hadn't been able to get a clear look at them, so he switched from monitor to monitor near the same location to get a better view of them. After a couple of moments, he was able to find a clear enough image and the folks he saw stunned him.

"Um the two of you may want to see who is here," Chuck said and pointed at the screen.

They went over to the monitors and were shocked to see that it was Bunnie and Tails on the screen. Bunnie was holding off a few SWATbots while she kept Tails behind her to keep him out of harms way. Unfortunatly some more were coming up behind them as well. They could see Tails yelling out and Bunnie then turned to face the extra enemies and tossed one of them and it hit the camera that was set up there and the screen went to static.

Before either Chuck or Sally could say or do anything, Sonic was already rushing out the door.

"Sonic! Wait!" Sally said but he was already too far ahead.

Sally groaned in frustration and ran right after him.

Some time earlier, Bunnie and Tails had been walking towards Robotropolis after he had landed in the forest. Tails' arms had gotten tired as did his tails while they were flying, but both figured that they were far enough away from Knothole to slow down some. They had chosen Robotropolis because Uncle Chuck was the only person they could think of that could help them. It was also likely that Sonic and Sally would go there after losing Knothole.

The sun was getting high in the sky and the day was getting surprisingly hot. They were moving through a thinner area of the forest so there was a lack of shade around them and the sun was beating directly down on them.

"Bunnie are we almost there?" asked Tails.

He rarely left the village and it was even rarer for him to go anywhere near Robotropolis so Bunnie couldn't blame him for being impatient about getting there. She looked up ahead and could see Robotropolis in the distance. If they kept up the pace they did, they'd be in the outskirts in about half an hour or. Maybe even less than that.

"We'll be there soon Tails. Don't you fret now. Try to keep up and we'll be there in a little while," she said.

"Do you know where we can find Uncle Chuck?" he asked.

Bunnie nodded. She was exhausted, they both were. But they had to keep moving otherwise they gave up to Harvester and his plans. She wasn't about to go back to him or allow Tails to as well.

Some time passed and they got closer to Robotropolis. By now the clouds of pollution had blocked out the sun and took care of the sun that was beating down. But the heat was still unbearable and seemed to get worse as they moved into the city because of all the clouds of carbon dioxide. The amount of heat was taking its toll and was slowing the both of them down too. She was just hoping that they didn't encounter anything on the way to Chucks place. But seeing the large amount of patrols that were roaming about the city, that was a task that would be easier said than done. She knew where to go, but with the large amount of SWATbots, the heat slowing her down and keeping an eye on Tails was going to make this a difficult trek.

After wandering through the outskirts of the city, they saw the path that would take them straight to Uncle Chuck's hideout. Before they could move however, they heard something flying above them and saw a hovercraft hovering up there. Given it's of movement, it must have been scanning the area.

"Tails we need to move... GO NOW!" she yelled and the two of them started running.

Tails tried to twist his tails together, but as the hovercraft's siren began blaring he became too nervous to do so. Instead he focused on where Bunnie was taking the two of them. They dashed down one alley and stopped for a moment to catch a breath. Bunnie knew it was futile however seeing as the bioscans that the hovercrafts carried would be able to detect them no matter where they went.

They continued running, but the two of them were getting worn out really quickly. They had been walking for most of the day in the heat and it was hotter here in the city than it had been in the forest due to the vast amount of pollution. And now running to escape from Robotniks goons was taking it's toll on them. But still they couldn't get caught and Bunnie had a duty to protect Tails from anything. Before long however, they were cutoff by a small group of three SWATbots. Using whatever strength was left in her, Bunnie was able to roundhose kick one into a wall and break it apart. She was able to kick the head off of another and knock the third to the ground and disable it.

Tails stayed behind her the entire time, but turned his head to see several more SWATbots coming up behind them in an attempt to ambush them.

"BUNNIE BEHIND US!" Tails hollered in fright.

Bunnie turned her head and saw the SWATbots running to grab them. She grabbed the first one that came into grabbing distance and slammed it right into the wall. But the rest in the group were armed with laser rifles and were charging them up to fire. Bunnie instinctively grabbed Tails and pulled the two of them into the cover of a nearby doorway as the laser weapons fired and struck the walls around the doorway. Bunnie used this brief reprieve to continue their trek.

At this point Tails had been able to calm down enough to attempt to take to the air again. But then the laser blasts started again and were striking the ground near them and Tails couldn't concentrate on it. All they could do was avoid as much of the laser fire as they could. But they knew that if they didn't get to safety, there'd be no way out.

As they entered into the streets, their escape came to an abrupt fault. Tails was wearing out and accidently stumbled and fell to the ground and Bunnie fell along with him as she was gripping his hand tightly. As they tried to pull themselves back up they heard a large amount of metal feet running towards their location and before they knew it, they were surrounded by at least twenty SWATbots. Bunnie looked around but couldn't find a clear way out. There was no spot in which their ranks were thinner and they were in such close quarters that if they even dodged one or two, the blasters would be enough to take them down anyway. Tails clutched Bunnie tightly and Bunnie onto him as well, believing that this was it for them.

As she waited for the two of them to be grabbed or blasted, there was some commotion as the SWATbots turned their attention elsewhere. Before they knew it, several SWATbots feel down and broke apart. Bunnie looked up and she and Tails were grabbed... by a familiar blue blur.

Tails looked at the person that held them and said, "Sonic! It's you."

Bunnie looked too and sure enough it was Sonic indeed. Even if it had only been for a few hours, it felt like much longer since they had seen him and right now she was glad that he was there.

Sonic dashed as fast as his feet would allow him while carrying two passengers in his arms. He made it to a side street before releasing the two of them. As soon as he had released them, Tails wrapped his little arms around the hedgehog and smiled.

"We found you," Tails said.

Sonic returned the hug before he pulled Tails' arms off of him gently and said, "Hey big guy. It actually looks like I'm the one who found you guys."

Bunnie smiled a little and said, "Glad you're okay Sugar Hog."

She peered around real quick and asked, "Where's Sally at?"

"She's safe for now at Uncle Chucks place. You and Tails try to get there and I'll take care of the SWATbutts and then I'll catch up," he said.

Before anyone could say anything, Sonic ducked down and did a spin dash and rolled back out into the streets to take on the remaining SWATbots. As he rammed into each one, they tore apart like a buzzsaw going through cardboard. As Sonic took them on, Bunnie and Tails ducked into a nearby building as any hovercraft and SWATbots in the area focused on Sonic. They moved from building to building and they were able to get to Uncle Chucks hideout more quickly. They found Sally was already standing outside expecting Sonic to return first. Instead she was surprised to see Bunnie and Tails approaching.

They were about to move towards her, but instead she readied herself as if she was ready to defend herself.

"Hold it right there you two. How do I know you're not with Harvester? He could have easily sent you after us," Sally said accusingly.

Bunnie scratched the back of her head and said, "Well I didn't consider something like that. How do we figure that out?"

"Well if we were after you, wouldn't it make more sense than to just send two? One of them being me?" Tails asked.

Sally took in what he said and allowed it to process through her mind. He did have a point that if it was just the two of them, then Harvester would have sent too small a group and he was way too smart to do that.

"That's a very good point. Let's get inside," she said and both Bunnie and Tails followed her inside.

As soon as they were inside, Sally got a better look at them and saw the sincerity in their eyes which was nothing at all like the ones the people that Harvester had enslaved. As soon as she was sure, she pulled the two of into a hug and let out some tears of joy. Tails wrapped his arms around her midsection and Bunnie around the shoulder. They would explain everything later once Sonic had returned.

In the meantime Sonic finished tearing through the gathering of SWATbots that had trapped Tails and Bunnie, but he saw plenty more were coming for him. He decided that he would have to lose them first and then regroup with Sally. He turned and ran through several alleys as the SWATbots chased after him. He ran into the sewer as some flying cameras followed him in. They floated through the darkness with their lights on and searched around for him. Once they find him they could relay his position to any waiting patrols. The SWATbots stood on standby waiting for the go ahead once the hedgehog was discovered. The cameras glided along waiting for the right moment. As they rounded one blind corner however, one camera suddenly blacked out and then the other. Since the patrols hadn't been able to pinpoint the location, they had no choice but to search the sewers on foot.

They jumped down into the sewer to search it, but Sonic was already out of their pathway. He popped his head out of one manholes and saw that there were no SWATbots around him. He pulled himself out and replaced the manhole cover to keep suspicion away. He looked at some signs to get his bearings and used them to find his way back towards Uncle Chuck.

Back in Knothole in the meantime, Harvester sat on the edge of a pond just outside of the main village. He had been told by some of the residents about power rings and their importance to them. When they had told him about the power they posses, he figured that he could use a few of them to assist him in his goals. Antoine stayed by his side as they waited for the ring to appear. It had to be any time now and all he could do was wait for them to appear.

Finally his impatience began to set in and he said, "I'm sick and tired of all this waiting. How much longer is it going to be?"

"Well it is every twelve hours. It can be any moment," Antoine answered.

Suddenly there came a golden glow from the water and a golden ring suddenly flew out of the water and into the air. Harvester stood up, waded into the water, and caught the ring before it could hit the water. As he held it, he could feel it's power coursing through him and enhancing his power.

Harvester smiled and said, "Excellent. Now we just need one more and then we can begin the operation."

**Okay so I'm gonna try to get one or two more chapters out before I have to leave. We'll see what I can do so wish me luck.**

**Any questions, comments, or advice? Feel free to comment.**


	13. Fight at the Museum

**Well it looks like that this might be my last chapter before I leave for a week in March. I will at least get started on the next chapter before then though so that it won't be long after I get back that I'll get it up. Until then, enjoy this next chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any Sonic characters**

Some time passed by before Sonic was able to return to Uncle Chuck's place. Just because he had escaped one group of SWATbots didn't mean that the rest were just gonna stop their patrols. But eventually he was able to get back to his uncle's hideout. As he arrived, he gave the secret knock and Chuck opened the door for him. When he reentered Chuck's residence, he could see Tails and Bunnie were napping in makeshift beds made of old mattresses that he had found abandoned around the city. There were even a couple more vacant mattresses there, likely for Sonic and Sally.

Sally was currently sitting at the surveillance monitors but as Sonic entered, she sighed in relief.

"Sonic thank goodness you're back. We were getting worried when you didn't show up," she said.

Sonic laughed in triumph and said, "Well I'm not used to moving at a snails pace Sal. But when I do, it's done to outsmart those dumb old SWATbutts. They can't even catch a cold let alone a slow moving hedgehog."

Sally hid her amusement of Sonic's little boasting and went back to focusing on the monitors. Sonic watched this and let the smile fade from his face. He looked back at Bunnie and Tails who were both sound asleep and then back at Sally who was still watching the monitors. She'd barely had any sleep the past couple of days and it must have been taking a tole on her. It didn't feel good to him and it certainly wasn't healthy for Sally to continue carrying on like this. She needed to get some rest now before she started losing her mind.

"Hey Sal why don't you take a break from there and get some sleep as well?" Sonic suggested gently as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

Sally shrugged him off and said, "I'm fine Sonic. We still have some other creatures to worry about. And with Robotnik and Harvester targeting us the way they are, it'll be hard to get to them. All of them have to be stopped."

She tried to hide a yawn, but it failed.

Sonic shook his head and said, "Come on Sally. You barely slept the other night and we were sleeping in shifts last night. You're not fine. If you keep going like this you could hurt yourself or someone else."

Sally groaned in frustration and said, "Fine Sonic if it makes you feel better I'll go get some rest. Happy now?"

She got up from the monitors and walked over to a vacant mattress and lied down on it, but didn't close her eyes. She saw Sonic observing her and turned away from him. She knew that he was right, but she was used to being more right than him and she didn't want to admit that he was right this time and not her. But she gave into the temptation and let her eyes slide shut and her breathing quickly became soft and silent as she feel into deep slumber.

Chuck looked at Sonic and said, "Why don't you get some rest too Sonic? I know that both of you are tired from all that's happened since last night and today. We don't need the two of you to be getting at each other's throats."

Sonic sat back in a chair and said, "I will in a bit Uncle Chuck. I do want to make sure that there's nothing unusual out there before I do."

Sonic was going to look at the monitors as well, but Chuck stopped him.

"Uh uh Sonic. The two of you have been getting agressive with each other and it's likely due to sleep deprivation in the both of you. If you don't sleep you get angry. I'm only saying this because I care about you guys. And don't worry about the cameras. I'll keep an eye on them," Chuck said in a fatherly tone to Sonic.

It was here that Sonic could feel his lack of energy getting to him. His muscles were beginning to ache and it was getting hard for his eyes to stay open. Finally deciding that Uncle Chuck was right, he got up from the seat and lied himself down upon the last remaining mattress and began snoring as he fell asleep.

Chuck watched the four of them as they slept. He figured that the four could use a few hours and turned his focus to the monitors once more. Thankfully for him, he didn't have to worry about sleep. That was the one positive thing about being a robot. It allowed him to remain awake for an unlimited amount of time and he couldn't feel fatigue at all. It allowed him to get much done in as little time as possible without taking any shortcuts either. He'd let them rest and he'd do all the work as they got some much needed sleep.

It was almost nightfall when Bunnie and Tails finally stirred from their own slumber. Their journey along with the heat had sapped most of their energy and they had been dead tired once things had finally calmed down a little. They couldn't even imagine how things must have been for Sonic and Sally through all the stuff that had happened to them through the night. Bunnie looked over at a still sleeping Sally and decided to leave her and Sonic alone. She even told Tails to do the same.

"How are the two of you feeling?" asked Uncle Chuck as he looked back at them.

Bunnie said that she was fine and Tails did the same as Bunnie came over to join Chuck at the monitors. Tails watched the monitors from behind the two of them in wonder.

"What are you guys looking at?" Tails asked.

Chuck motioned towards the monitors and said, "From here I can examine much of Robotroplis. I can see what Robotnik is up to and I can find all sorts of items I think could be helpful in the fight against him. You'd be surprised by all the useful stuff he has lying around."

"Not very observant is he?" Bunnie asked jokingly.

Chuck laughed a little and said, "Not really. Never was to be honest. The man has an IQ of over three-hundred and he can't even see it when we improvise weapons against him from all the old junk he leaves lying about."

"So what are we looking for right now?" asked Bunnie.

"Same old same old Bunnie. Anything that Robotnik is up to and weapons. However I'm also on the lookout for any unusual creatures like those things you kids have been fighting," Chuck said.

They continued for a little while and Tails watched from behind the two of them. But as he looked up at a monitor in the upper right corner, he spotted something unusual moving around alright.

"Hey. What's that thing?" Tails asked and pointed at the monitor he was currently looking at.

Both Bunnie and Chuck turned their heads and they saw what Tails was looking at. On the monitor was what looked like a skeletal bird with a very translucent skin, displaying some of it's inards. Instead of feathers, it had fur all over the areas where it's skin was thicker and it was wandering around. It scratched at the ground and sniffed wherever it walked. It's mouth was similar to a bird's beak, but as it opened it's mouth they saw that it had crooked teeth. Not like a real bird at all and Bunnie was betting that it didn't eat worms or bugs.

Eventually it ended up at the camera and looked at it from empty eye sockets. At least the sockets looked empty from what they could see, but it must have been able to see as it looked straight into the camera itself. It opened it's ugly mouth and then bit into the camera, making it static.

Bunnie stood up and asked, "Where was that thing located at?"

"Near the old museum of art," Chuck answered.

Bunnie knew exactly where that was. She nodded and got up from her seat.

"Going out there to fight it Aunt Bunnie?" Tails asked.

Chuck knew there'd be no talking her out of it and said, "You be careful out there little lady. There's no telling what that thing could do to you. I'll keep an eye on the thing from here."

"I've already learned that lesson once. I don't intend to repeat it," Bunnie said as she recalled just how she had been ambushed by Harvester and enslaved.

Chuck gave her an ear piece so that he could keep in contact with her as he changed cameras to keep a lookout for the monster. She clipped the piece to her ear and walked out of Chuck's hideout, making sure that she closed the door as she left. Once she was sure the hideout was secure, she went out into the city and using the street signs she was able to map out her path towards the museum. Since most of Robotnik's forces were still searching for Sonic, there was less opposition out in the city this time around. Still though, she proceeded with caution cause there were still enemies out and she wasn't just talking about the security and SWATbots.

It didn't take too long to arrive at the museum, but couldn't see the bird thing anywhere around her.

She pushed a button on her ear piece and said, "Chuck it's me. I'm at the museum but that bird brain isn't here. Can you see him anywhere? Do you read? Over."

"I read you Bunnie. Yeah it's moved into the museum now and is in one of the sculpture wings. That area is a dead end. If you move in now you can trap it in there and take it out. Over," Chuck answered back.

Bunnie nodded and said, "I'm moving in on it then. Over and out."

She released the button on the ear piece and went into the museum. She moved quickly as she had to rush towards the hall before the thing could leave it. But as she went she couldn't help but take a look around at the various paintings and statues as she passed by.

She had been only five years old at the time of Robotnik's coup, but she could still remember what the museum was like in it's hay day. It had been a very beautiful place. All the wonderful paintings and marvelous statues that once stood and hung in the museum glorious halls had been a wonderful sight. Even during the Great War when Overlanders had gotten into the city, they had left the museum untouched. She figured that they too must have seen the beauty in all these works of art and spared it from harm.

But now things were very much different. All the once beautiful paintings that hung in the halls were now torn to shreds or were gone completely. And the majestic statues that stood over spectators were either now crumbling, completely smashed, or simply knocked over. It hurt her to see art like this being tarnished so bad. Real treasures that Mobians had poured their hearts and energy into were now gone and others were tarnished.

Just gave her another reason to hate Robotnik.

She pushed on towards the sculpture hall. The sculpture hall had been one of the newest things added to the museum by the time of the coup. It was where they displayed the newest artwork that Mobians, both young and old, had created and there it would be decided if it was good enough to be placed in the museum. Contrary to the hall's name it wasn't just for sculptures, but also paintings and pottery as well.

Despite her memories of the museum, she still had to follow the signs that pointed her towards the hall. She knew she had to be getting close to it though. If the abundance of old signs weren't enough to tell her that, she could at the same time hear some odd noises coming from that area of the building. A combination of squeals, hisses and scratches as she could hear something wandering around in there. As she arrived at the hall, Bunnie moved more slowly as her metallic feet could give her away as she walked along. She quietly peered around a corner and she could see the thing in the room, flapping it's furry wings and letting out another squeal that sounded nothing like a birds.

She pulled back and took a breath as she turned away from the hall. Just looking at the thing was enough to freak her out and she waited for her pulse to calm down some before preparing herself for the fight. Just as she was about to charge in there, she suddenly heard the creature flapping it's wings once more and the room and the creature fell silent completely. What could it be doing in there? Deciding that now would have to be the right time to face it, she popped out from around the corner and readied herself. However, save for the remains of the old exhibits and some broken benches, there was nothing in the room.

What had happened and where did the thing go? There was no way it went past her and this was the only way in or out of the room.

"What the? There's no way it could have gone past me," she said as she wandered a little ways into the room.

But as she walked in, she heard the hissing sounds again. So it was still in the room and hadn't rushed past her. But now it sounded like the noises were coming from above her. She looked up and what she saw spooked her. She could see the bird thing and it was clinging to the marble of the ceiling. It hissed at her and using it's wings, it jumped from the ceiling and glided down towards her. As it flew down towards her Bunnie jumped up, spun around, and kicked the thing in the midsection. It flew backwards, but dug the claws of it's wings into the floor and this allowed it to slow down it's drag across the floor. Once the bird had come to a stop, it stood back up and faced Bunnie down.

The two just across from each other, just staring the other down. Waiting for someone to make the next move. The room and the rest of the building fell silent. The creature stopped it's hisses and squeals and no other living things were dwelling within the museum. It seemed as if the whole world had stopped and was waiting on these two individuals to continue their fight.

"I'm ready when you are. So why don't you make the first move sugar?" Bunnie said in a taunting manner.

The bird shifted it's feet and composed itself, getting itself ready to pounce. But Bunnie caught wind of what the creature was doing so she squated down and as the monster leaped right at her, she fell to floor and with one of her metallic feet she sent the creature flying into a pile of broken and jagged pottery. It shrieked as the broken pottery pierced it's body in multiple places as it rolled along the ground. But it merely pulled it's body back up and pulled the broken pottery back out with the claws at the end of it's wings. Each piece came out clean with no signs that the creature was bleeding.

'Looks like this one will be tougher than the rest of them. I best find some other way to do this,' she said in her head and peered around.

There was no way she could finish this thing off in here as this bird creature was not going to go down easy. It leaped at her again and gave it another roundhouse kick to the back and it fell forward once more. She spun around and ran out of the sculpture hall as fast as her feet would let her. She dashed down the nearest hall and checked all the signs that she passed along the way. She noticed some pointed towards a hall of old weapons so she decided to try there first. But to her disappointment, there were no longer any weapons to be found here. Probably taken by Robotnik and his forces after the coup.

She suddenly heard an even louder shriek as the thing started rushing in her direction. She looked at any other exhibit signs she could see and then she spotted one for the pottery exhibit. If her memory served her correctly there was a large room sized kiln in the back area near the pottery exhibit that was used in demonstrations for students of art. If it was still in good working condition, it would be a good way to dispose of this beast.

For the time being she waited right where she was for the thing to catch up to her. Her plan was to lure this creature and allow it to chaser her so that she could lead it to the kiln. She didn't have to wait long however as the creature crawled along the ceiling and got closer to her. Probably in an attempt to instill fear into it's prey.

'Perfect,' she said in her head.

She ran from her current spot and the creature jumped down to the ground and chased her along the ground once more. She was wasn't concerned this time though, because she knew exactly where she was going this time. She was at the very least glad that it moved about as fast as a normal Mobian with the exception of a certain blue hedgehog.

She quickly arrived at the pottery exhibit and waited for the thing once more. Within seconds it was rushing around the corner leading up to her and the exhibit. As it leaped for her once more, she kicked it down and it gave her a few seconds to move forward. Thankfully the way towards the back area was clear and she was able to gain easy access to the unauthorized sections of the museum. As she went, she noticed a sign for the kiln and knew that she was close to her destination.

The kiln itself was still intact as she arrived and she could hear the creature dashing down the hall and in her direction. She threw open the kiln door and walked right into it. As she looked in, she saw some sculptures and pots still sitting in there even after a full decade. She grabbed a couple of small crumbling statues and threw them to the ground in front of the door and smashed some pots there for good measure. After this was done, she ducked behind the door as the creature rushed inside. But once it's feet hit the broken pieces of clay and glass, it skidded on the ground and hit the opposite wall with a shrill shriek.

Bunnie then came out from behind the door and started exiting the kiln. But right before she was completely out, the creature recovered and grabbed her metal foot. It started pulling back on her leg and it attempted to drag her back inside. But Bunnie was prepared for this and slammed her other foot onto the creature's bony hand and it caused a loud crunching sound. It screamed again and with a second slam of her foot, the things hand came off and she kicked the beast back into the kiln. She pulled herself back up to her feet and the thing jumped at her once more and tried to hold the kiln door open and keep her from closing it. But she pulled back her metal fist and punched the thing square in it's skull like face and sent it flying back into the opposite wall. This time she slammed the door shut and locked the kiln tight.

It slammed into the door and started clawing at the viewing window and started shrieking once more. Bunnie merely smirked and flipped the kiln on from the outside and set it to full heat to last for several hours. The fires inside began to flare and cast the entire room and the hall in front of it in an orange glow as the entire room began to heat up from the flames. The creature itself stood too close to them and went up in flames rather easily as it's fur caught. It shrieked more loudly than it had before and desperately scratched at the window. But the window was designed and built to withstand temperatures of well over a thousand degrees, so the bird's efforts were futile. All at once the shrieks turned into gurgles and then they abruptly stopped as the creature took one last breath and then fell silent.

Bunnie watched the flames some more and breathed a sigh of relief. She turned away from the kiln and left it to continue flaring.

"Bunnie are you there? Are you okay?" came Chuck's voice in her ear.

She pressed the button on her communicator and said, "I'm here Chuck. I'm alright, over."

She could hear the relief in Chuck's breathing and he said, "Excellent. We were getting worried when we didn't hear from you. Report back here Bunnie. We'll wake Sonic and Sally soon and we'll move on from there. Over and out."

Bunnie nodded and began to leave the museum. Boy did she have a tale to tell the others.

**Well another one bites the dust. Only three creatures remain. So what other monsters do they have to face. You'll see when I return from vacation.**

**Any comments or advice would be great to hear. See you folks soon.**


	14. Author's Note

**Hey folks it's me. This is not a new chapter, but a little update to fill you folks in on some stuff. I have some good news and bad news.**

**The good news is that I'm home from vacation and we had a great time. But now the bad news. While we were gone, my grandfather passed away and we have a lot of stuff to go through and it's going to keep me very busy for a little while. Not to mention my personal feelings on the matter has sapped my will to write right now.**

**So everyone just sit tight, hopefully I will bring out a new chapter soon.**

**Until next time everyone.**


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